California · AB 723 · Effective Jan 1, 2026
Does That Photo Edit
Need a Disclosure?
California's AB 723 makes agents disclose digitally altered listing images — and link the original. Pick any edit below and see the verdict, the statute language behind it, and what to do. Free, no signup, maintained by a working Inland Empire real estate photographer.
Reference tool, not legal advice. Verify against the bill text or your broker's counsel.
Check an Edit
16 edit types, classified straight from the statute's own lists.
Pick an edit type above to see whether AB 723 requires a disclosure, what the bill actually says about it, and what to do before the photo goes in a listing.
The Part Most People Miss: Disclosure Has Two Halves
1
The statement
A reasonably conspicuous statement, on or adjacent to the image, that it has been digitally altered.
2
The original
A link, URL, or QR code where a viewer can access the original, unaltered image — with language telling them that's where to find it. Labeling alone does not comply.
The Full Classification
Disclose
- • Virtual staging (adding furniture)
- • Object / furniture removal
- • Landscaping changes (plants, hardscape)
- • Window view replacement
- • Facade / structural edits
- • Floor plan alterations
- • Removing power lines / poles / neighbors
- • Changing paint color / flooring
Exempt
- • Color correction / white balance
- • Exposure blending / HDR / flambient
- • Cropping / straightening / angle
- • Noise reduction / sharpening
- • Lens profile / distortion correction
Gray Area
- • Sky replacement
- • Virtual twilight (day-to-dusk)
- • Grass greening / lawn recolor
How This Works on Real Shoots
I'm Dustyn — I shoot listings across Riverside and the Inland Empire, and this tool exists because these questions come up at booking. My own editing principle is simpler than the statute: the photos should be an accurate representation of what you're selling, not a promise of what isn't there. Flambient exposure work needs no disclosure because nothing in the frame is invented.
Virtual staging is the one covered alteration clients actually ask for — usually on vacant listings. My practice: it's AI-based, strictly opt-in, and disclosed to the client before delivery, so the disclosure workflow starts before the listing does.
And the honest field report, several months into the law: no agent or seller has yet asked me for an original unaltered file. The requirement is real — build the habit of keeping originals — but the practical burden so far is record-keeping, not confrontation. Full walkthrough of the rules: California MLS photo requirements + AB 723.
Methodology
Classifications are mapped directly from the text of AB 723 (Pellerin), Chapter 497, Statutes of 2025, adding §10140.8 to the Business and Professions Code, effective January 1, 2026. "Disclose" means the element is named in the statute's alteration list; "Exempt" means the adjustment is named in its exemption list; "Gray area" means the bill names it in neither. Last reviewed 2026-08-14; next scheduled review 2027-02-14. This is a reference built by a photographer, not legal advice.
Cite This Tool
Journalists, brokers, and bloggers are welcome to reference this page:
"AB 723 Photo Edit Disclosure Checker," Dustyn Reno Design — dustynrenodesign.com/ab-723-disclosure-checker (reviewed 2026-08-14).
AB 723 Questions, Answered
What does AB 723 actually require?
Two things, whenever a listing image has been digitally altered: a reasonably conspicuous statement on or next to the image saying it was altered, and a link, URL, or QR code where a viewer can access the original unaltered version. Labeling alone does not satisfy the statute — the original has to be reachable.
Which edits are exempt from disclosure?
The bill names lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, and exposure as exempt — routine adjustments that do not change the representation of the property. Flambient exposure blending falls in this class: every element in the frame is really there.
Is sky replacement covered by AB 723?
The bill text does not name sky replacement in either list — it is a genuine gray area. A replaced sky is arguably an element outside of, or visible from, the property, but nobody has tested it. The conservative read is to disclose it and link the original, the same as a named alteration.
Who is responsible for the disclosure — the photographer or the agent?
The statute applies to real estate licensees and people acting on their behalf who use altered images in advertising. In the standard workflow the photographer delivers files and the agent uploads the listing, so what appears on or next to the image in the advertisement is in the licensee's hands. A photographer can supply compliant files and originals; the on-listing disclosure travels with the listing.
Want listing photos that don't need a disclosure in the first place? See services and packages — flambient interiors, drone aerials, and video, delivered next business day.