A lot of the high end houses in my area have these listing photos that look so amazing they almost look fake. Every room looks spacious and flawless and the lighting is perfect.

I am wondering who does these photos? Can you hire a general photographer to take and touch up photos like this or are there photographers who specialize in real estate?

Photo filters! We hired a general photographer for our flip. He simply just used photo filters and enhancers. Makes such a difference!

Originally posted by @Denise Alberto :
Photo filters! We hired a general photographer for our flip. He simply just used photo filters and enhancers. Makes such a difference!

That's awesome, thanks for the info, yeah it's amazing how good some of them look!

Just curious, what did they charge for a job like that?

I would reach out to the listing agent to see which photographer they used. You may also consider reaching out to a local art school for cheap labor. I do think it's important to use a professional photographer for flips as they are well versed lighting and more importantly, on which angels can make a small room look large and inviting.

My real estate agent uses a professional photographer that charges $250 per property. She typically provides 100+ pictures, many of which are edited (for lighting) in photoshop.

A Redfin study found that homes with professional photographs were found, on average, to be viewed 61% more online than others in that price range shot with a lower-end camera. The listings that used digital SLR cameras also commanded a 47 percent higher asking price per square foot, according to the Redfin analysis.

Check out the study here: http://www.redfin.com/research/reports/special-reports/2010/a_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_dollars_true_or_false.html#.U1gDV_ldVGw

@Zoran M. , again, great info, thanks a bunch. My primary residence looked so bad on MLS we almost didn't even look at it. It was in a great neighborhood so we went anyway and turned out it was very nice just horrible pictures.

@John Horner - good pictures are the reason I bought my primary residence! It was a short sale that was vacant for a year. A few filters showed me what it could look like, not what it did look like.

@John Horner

10-22mm wide angle lens. This is how they can get the whole room in one shot.

To answer your question, there are both general freelance photographers as well as real estate photographers who do the pictures. The high end listing brokers usually have a photographer experienced in shooting houses do the pictures that you're talking about. However, an experienced photographer who is good with photoshop can produce a very similar shot.

Quality lenses, flashes and postproduction. Many photos use HDR (to give the surreal feel) which can be done well but most looks pretty poor and over done.

Also- Don't underestimate that fact that the person taking the photos has to have an artistic eye (or at least not be oblivious) Some people have it, some don't.

For your amusement:
http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/