1. Photo editing: a little goes a long way 5 SIMPLE TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR Listing Photos By Sarah Andrews, Intern, Design & Communications at TREND MLS

2. Simple Edits If simple edits can turn this blurry and blue tinted photo of my dorm room (taken on a cell phone) into a clear “after” image, just imagine what it can do for your listings.

4. www.fotoflexer.com

5. www.pixlr.com

7. White or dull sky? Brown lawn? The tint tool is your new best friend. Select a color, use the paint tool to apply it to the area that needs it, and use the “fade” bar to adjust the color level. Tint Tool

8. Before

9. After

10. After Be careful to select a color in a natural shade, otherwise the effect will make the photo look clearly manipulated.

11. Too far! Case in point.. This lawn is unbelievably green - and you can clearly tell that the photo has been altered.

12. You can bring out detail in over or under-exposed pictures with adjustments to the Brightness. Adjust the sliding scale to make the correction- increase the Brightness (also sometimes called “Exposure”) to make your photo lighter, and decrease it to make your photo darker. Brightness

13. Before

14. After

15. After Brightness increased by +5, and the room looks a bit more light and open, plus you can see more detail.

16. Too far! But, increase the Brightness too far (shown here at +12), and the photo becomes very grainy.

17. Adjust the contrast (the difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture) to restore white balance. Adjust the sliding scale to make the correction- increase the Contrast to get more of a definition between the light and dark areas of your photo, and decrease it to do the opposite. Contrast

18. Before

19. After

20. After Contrast increased by +8, and there is a subtle difference in the brightness of the colors- they stand out more.

21. Too far! Contrast increased by +79. The difference between the blacks and whites has increased dramatically, and the photo looks unrealistic.

22. Sometimes colors can get faded when a room is photographed. Adjusting the color saturation can help restore some of the lost vibrancy. Increase color saturation to make colors more vibrant, and decrease to make colors duller. Color Saturation

23. Before

24. After

25. After Color saturation increased by +35, which really brings out the true green color in the back wall.

26. Too far! Color saturation increased by +74, and the photo begins to look a bit cartoon-ish.

27. Cropping can completely alter the viewpoint or perception of a photo. It can also remove unwanted items from the sides of a photograph, such as common household clutter. Select the cropping tool and the cropping constraints (i.e. the dimensions that you would like your photo to be cropped down to), and then click and drag the cropping box so that it covers the area you would like to remain. Then, save your cropped photo. Simple Cropping

28. Before

29. After

30. After Cropping the edge of this photo reduces some of the clutter on the side, and also allows buyers to focus on the main elements of the room (the sofas and office area) without any distractions.

31. Too far! Cropping a photo too far will not only reduce image quality, but will also decrease the amount of information about the room that the photo provides.

32. With these 5 functions, available in many free photo editing programs, you can make a little editing go a long way. Nomatter what effect you are applying, make sure that you keep it natural-looking and don’t over-apply multiple effects. Follow these simple rules and your listing photos will be better than ever! Less is more!!!