Beachaven Villas — Photo Editing Guide

Golden rule: resist over-editing. OTAs reward clear, realistic lighting over stylized renders — so keep clarity and saturation modest. If a guest would notice the room doesn't look like the photo, we've gone too far.

Step 0

One-time setup

In the Develop module, on your first photo:

Lens Corrections → check Enable Profile Corrections (auto-detects the Canon lens and removes barrel distortion + vignetting) and Remove Chromatic Aberration.
Detail → Sharpening: leave at default (Amount ~40). These are low-ISO/tripod shots — only run AI Denoise if you see noise in the shadows (most won't need it).

Step 1

"Bright & Airy Siesta Key" base recipe Spec §1 — Lighting

Starting values for the Basic panel. Tune per photo — these get you 90% there. Save them as a preset called "Beachaven Bright & Airy" and apply on import.

Slider	Value	Why
White Balance	eyedropper + Temp +100–200	Crisp clean whites, no cast. Use the eyedropper on white trim or a gray counter, then nudge warm. Pull Tint toward magenta if it looks greenish.
Exposure	+0.30 to +0.60	Bright, sun-drenched
Contrast	+8	Gentle
Highlights	−50 to −70	Recover bright windows / Florida sun
Shadows	+45 to +65	Lift the corners — the key "airy" move
Whites	+15 to +25	Set white point: hold `Alt/Opt` while dragging, stop just before clipping
Blacks	−5 to −12	Keep a little depth so it's not washed out
Texture	+6	Subtle crispness
Clarity	+6 to +10	Modest — high clarity reads as fake HDR
Dehaze	+4 to +8	Mostly for exteriors
Vibrance	+12 to +18	Pop without oversaturation
Saturation	0 to +4	Let Vibrance do the work — avoid the neon look

Step 2

Verticals & distortion Spec §2 — Composition

Per photo (interiors especially): Transform → Upright → Auto. If Auto over-crops or looks off, use Vertical, or Guided (draw two vertical lines along a doorframe or wall edge). Check that doorframes and window frames read perfectly plumb. Barrel distortion is already handled by Profile Corrections in Step 0.

Step 3

Sky & water Spec §3 — Environment

The exterior skies are already blue, so enhance, don't replace:

Masking → Select Sky (AI). On the mask: Exposure −0.15, Saturation +10, Clarity +5, Temp slightly cooler. Rich blue, still believable.
Pool / Gulf water (drone + exterior shots): Masking → Brush the water → Saturation +8 to +12, Clarity +5. Stop before it looks neon.
Flat lawn? Color Mixer (HSL) → Green/Yellow: Luminance +10, Saturation +8. A truthful lift, not cartoon-green.

True sky replacement for a genuinely overcast shot is a Photoshop job — but none of the samples need it. Flag any cloudy-day frames and we'll handle those one-offs separately.

Step 4

Decluttering Spec §4 — Generative Remove

Use the Remove tool → Generative AI (Healing panel). Brush over the object and let it fill. Specific items already spotted:

Exterior (3I0B2131): overhead power lines + utility pole, top-left — a big clean-up win.
Bathroom (3I0B2249): small trash bin, bottom-right by the curtain.
Scan every shot for: cords, distracting outlets, cleaning supplies, cables behind TVs, soap bottles.

Leave alone

TVs: a sleek black off-state reads fine — no need to composite a screen image.
Styled accents (striped towels, accent pillows, coffee setup, lighthouse decor) are intentional staging — keep them, just make sure the color is rich (Vibrance handles it).

Step 5

Per-room tweaks From the 4 reviewed samples

Shot	Adjustment
Living room (2164)	Already excellent. Highlights −60 (recover the windows / pool view through glass), Shadows +45, Temp +150 for warmth.
Kitchen (2204)	Exposure +0.40, Shadows +40, Whites +15. Keep the green herringbone backsplash accurate — don't let Vibrance shift it.
Bathroom (2249)	Needs the most lift: Exposure +0.70, Shadows +60, Whites +20, neutralize the gray whites with the eyedropper on the vanity top. + trash-bin removal (Step 4).
Exterior (2131)	Power-line removal (Step 4), Dehaze +8, Select Sky enhance (Step 3), lawn green boost (Step 3). Upright on the roofline.

Step 6

Batch workflow The time-saver

Group photos by room / scene.
Edit one reference shot per group fully (recipe + verticals + sky).
Select that shot → shift-select the rest of the group → Sync Settings (Classic). Check Basic / Lens / Transform / Masking; uncheck Generative Remove + Crop (those are per-image). (Lightroom CC: Copy Edit Settings → Paste.)
Then walk each photo for its own verticals, declutter, and crop.

Step 7

Export Spec §5 — Delivery

Format: JPEG, Quality 82, Color Space sRGB
Image sizing: keep the original aspect ratio. For web masters, resize Long Edge → 2560 px (crisp on retina, light enough to load fast). Keep a full-res set too for print/flyer use.
Output sharpening: Screen, Standard
Metadata: include copyright (Christina Cook Lee); strip GPS / location for privacy
Naming: keep descriptive names (#1-Beachaven-LivingRoom.jpg) — easier for the website CMS later

The website crops via CSS, so deliver original-ratio masters — no need to pre-crop to the site's card shapes.

Not covered here

Full sky replacement on overcast shots → Photoshop (none needed from the samples).
Heavy compositing (adding a fire to a fireplace, replacing a TV screen) → not needed; the spec accepts a black off-state.

If any shot turns out to need one of these, flag it and we'll handle the one-offs.