In my last post, I mentioned that there are at least 5 ways to do almost anything in Adobe Photoshop CS3. I went on (and on) to write about five different techniques available in Photoshop to optimize the exposure of your digital MLS listing photos.
Well forget all that, because I have saved the best for last. There is one more process available in the current version of Photoshop CS3. I firmly believe it is easier, and will work better for most situations than any to the other methods outlined in part II of this series.
Let's try it and see if you agree. Open a digital image in Photoshop CS3 that you believe could use some improvement in the area of exposure. Double click on the magnifying glass "zoom" tool in the tool bar on the left side of the screen to expand your photo to 100% full size.
If your full size image is larger than the work space, double click on the "hand" tool to shrink the image to fit within the work space. You want to be able to get a good view of the whole image as you work.
If you are familiar with using Photoshop "layers," duplicate the main layer and perform the rest of this procedure on a duplicate layer. If you are not familiar with layers you might want to "save as" a copy of your original image so you can revert to the original if necessary.
Here comes the good part. Select "Image" from the menu bar across the top of the screen. Now position your cursor over "Adjustments" in the drop down menu that opens. This will open a fly-out menu to one side. Slide your cursor over to that fly-out menu and drop down to find "Shadow/Highlights." When you click on "Shadow/Highlights" a dialog box will appear.
As you can see in the "Shadow/Highlights" dialog box pictured below, you will have sliders available to you to control almost all of the parameters that affect the exposure of your image right there in one place. Cool, huh? The other thing you will notice is that Photoshop has already adjusted all of the parameters automatically to what it thinks the ideal exposure should be. Neat!
I often find that the automatic settings look a little washed out. If you do too, you can adjust the sliders yourself to fine tune the image. I find that sliding the "Mid-range Contrast" to the right often helps. And I will usually kick up the "Color Correction" slider also to punch things up.
I try to err a little on the "light and bright" side of perfect with these settings because you will really fine tune the overall effect in a minute. Once you close the dialog box by clicking "OK," your adjusted image will be displayed in all its glory. Now we fine tune your image.
As I have shown you in earlier posts, you can "fade" the effect of many Photoshop image adjustments after you have made them. This is no exception.
To fade the "Shadow/Highlights" adjustments you have applied simply click on "Edit" on the top menu bar as shown below, and select "Fade Shadow/Highlight." You can now use the resulting slider also pictured below to gradually reduce the overall effect of all of the adjustments you performed with the Shadow/Highlight tool.
Because I have purposely erred on the light and bright side with my original adjustments, I often end up finding the very best compromise of detail and color between 60 to 70% on the "fade" slider.
So now that you know one of my best secrets for optimizing the overall exposure of your digital listing photos, you don't need me. Ah, but wait, there are more tricks to come! So if you enjoy working with Photoshop, and optimizing your own digital images, stay tuned.
Now I love this stuff and I know many of you do too. If you don't have the time or inclination to play with these processes but you still want your digital listing photos to be all that they can be, we can help. At Mio, we have devised processes to lighten, brighten, straighten, sharpen, and remove distortion caused by the use of a wide angle lens.
We make these services available to Realtors quickly and inexpensively. To see samples of our work, please visit www.LightBrightListings.com. If you would like to see what we can do with your actual photos, simply attach two or three digital photos to an e-mail to Mio@cox.net. Mention that you saw this post on Active Rain and we will process them for you and return them at no cost to you.
One more thing, we at Mio have been involved professionally in the field of Real Estate for over 22 years. We understand real property and the ethical issues involved in optimizing your listing images. Our pledge to you is that we will never get you in trouble. Mio will never modify an image in any way that would misrepresent the true nature of the "real property" that is at the heart of your listing.
Sincerely,
Bill Fletcher
Mio
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