Guardian Australia image editor Carly Earl went to a property in Sydney and took pictures of the same location with a professional real estate photographer to show the vast differences the two captured. In the first example, a photo of a swimming pool was taken in which the real estate photo editors had increased the saturation of the trees and sky “to make it look much sunnier and more vibrant than it really is.” “The other thing you’ll notice is that it looks like it’s been Photoshopped, as there are no more leaves at the bottom of the pool, and that definitely makes it feel a lot more attractive,” says Earl.
Fake fires
In the next example, a photo of a living room is shown where the professional had filled in the shadows, as well as shooting with a wider lens to make the room appear larger than it is. “This is something they generally do in smaller homes to create a sense of space,” Earl explains. Perhaps most shockingly, the professional had Photoshopped in a fire burning where there was none before. “In my image, there definitely wasn’t a roaring fire at that point, but they add it to show that warmth and have that feeling of being relaxed in the living room,” Earl explains. For the exterior shot of the property the professional had filled in the lawn where it was mostly mud. “The whole picture looks very bright, it looks like there’s grass all over the road when we know there really isn’t,” says Earl. And like the pool photo, the editors had increased the saturation to make the greens and sky look very strong.
Correct information
According to the accompanying article on The Guardian website, fair trading rules in Australia dictate that property photos must convey “accurate information” about the buyer or tenant. A picture can mislead if it “leads to a reasonable belief in the existence of a state of affairs that does not actually exist” or by “acts of silence or omission” — such as including a picture of a beach view where no one is. The maximum penalty for breaching the Australian Consumer Law is $1.1 million for a company. According to Hayden Groves, President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, a picture of a lit fireplace where there was none is fine as long as the fireplace can have a fire. The unnamed photographer hired by Guardian Australia says she regularly uses two exposures for an outdoor shot and maybe three or four indoors to make a well-balanced composite. “A lot of places can look really, really shabby. They collapse. But with the right frames and the right lighting, we can take the pictures, always,” adds the photographer.
