Since 1 January 2026 a California listing that shows an altered photo has to carry a disclosure, a link to the original, and in the MLS the original itself. The agent is the one the law names. The photographer is the one who has the original. This guide is the handover between them: what the rules ask for, in the words the MLSs use, which file counts as the original when the delivered image was merged from several exposures, how to deliver originals with a checked link and a QR code, and how to bill it. It is written from the statute and the published MLS guidance and is not legal advice. Compare the two quoted sentences below with your own MLS's page before you rely on them.
Who this is for
Listing photographers in California who deliver to agents, the agents and brokerages that hire them, and photographers elsewhere whose MLS is adopting the same pattern. If you only want the rules themselves, read AI listing photo disclosure rules in 2026 first; this guide assumes them and covers the delivery.
The three layers of the rule
Most summaries collapse AB 723 into "disclose and link". There are three layers, and a delivery has to satisfy each one where it applies.
The statute. Business and Professions Code Section 10140.8 requires a broker or salesperson, or anyone acting on their behalf, who includes a digitally altered image in an advertisement for the sale of real property to include a statement that the image has been altered and "a link to a publicly accessible internet website, URL, or QR code that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image." The statement has to be reasonably conspicuous, on or adjacent to the image, and it has to say that the unaltered image can be seen at that link, URL or QR code; a bare "digitally altered" beside a QR code does not meet it. This layer covers every place the altered image appears: brochures, flyers, social posts, email, third-party portals.
The brokerage's own website. Where the advertisement is on a website the broker or salesperson controls, the disclosure and link apply as they do everywhere else, and in addition the posting has to include the unaltered image. The statute lets that second duty be met by the same link to a public page that includes the original, so a brokerage site can either embed the original beside the altered image or link to it; the disclosure stays either way.
The MLS. CRMLS (rule 11.5.2), San Diego MLS and Bay East require the original, unaltered photo uploaded to the listing immediately before or after the altered image, with the alteration named in the photo description field ("digitally altered", "virtually staged"). The San Diego requirements make the same point: the unaltered original has to be available and paired with the altered image in the listing. An external link does not replace the upload. It complements it, because the MLS media set does not travel with the image into a brochure or a social post.
So the deliverable is two files per altered view (the original and the altered version), one label, and one link or QR code that identifies the original for everything outside the MLS.
Three things run through this guide and are worth keeping apart. The statute asks for the disclosure and a publicly accessible original. The MLS adds upload, label and placement rules that differ by MLS. Lumethic is optional evidence connecting a delivered image with the camera file behind it, which neither the statute nor any MLS asks for.
What counts as altered, and what does not
The statute exempts "lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, exposure, or other common photo editing adjustments" that do not change the representation of the property. The MLS guidance treats exposure blending, the merge behind most interior photos, as editing of that kind. Everything that changes the property as shown is altered: a replaced sky, a greened lawn, a removed power line, car or bin, a repaired roof, furniture in an empty room, a view through a window that was not there. Virtual staging is permitted with disclosure; CRMLS's advertising rules limit it to furniture and decor and do not allow it for walls, fixtures or power lines. A label does not make every alteration acceptable: CRMLS's guidance says altered landscaping the seller will not actually provide should not be shown even when labelled. Concealing the property's condition is misrepresentation whatever the label says.
One practical consequence for photographers: the edits that trigger the duty are overwhelmingly exterior. Coraly's June 2026 study of about 40,000 primary listing photos found 69% of alterations were replaced skies and 90% of alterations were exterior or landscape; about 4.5% of interior images were altered. Your originals workflow will mostly be about exteriors.
What the original has to be
The MLSs answered this so that photographers would not have to. San Diego MLS tells photographers that the original is "a technically processed, semi-finished image": colour-corrected, cropped, straightened, sharpened, but with nothing in the property added, removed or changed. Its guidance adds that it is neither practical nor reasonable to expect photographers to deliver untouched RAW files. The alteration is made on a copy of that semi-finished image.
That definition decides your folder structure. You deliver an "originals" set and an "altered" set, and the two are the same images up to the alteration. Agents host the originals on a drive, a media gallery or the MLS itself, and some photography companies now list the originals folder as part of the standard delivery.
That is the whole legal requirement. None of the three layers asks anyone to check the original against the camera file: the disclosure beside the altered image, the labelled originals uploaded to the MLS and a public link to those originals meet all three without any check. What the definition does not cover is whether the original is what it claims to be, because nobody in the chain checks the semi-finished JPEG against the camera. A photographer who keeps the RAW can add that check as a service to the agent, and the rest of this guide is about how. It is an addition, not a requirement.
Brackets, merges and which frame is the original
Exteriors are usually one frame, or a short bracket for the sky. Interiors are commonly a merge: three to five exposures blended to hold the window and the shadows, or a flash frame blended with an ambient frame. The MLS accepts the merge as the original, because exposure blending is standard editing. A camera check works differently: it compares one RAW frame with the JPEG developed from it. A merged image was developed from several frames, and a check against any one of them comes back as "not checked" (in Lumethic's terms, an unregistered pair), never as flagged.
The way to hold both is to keep both. The merge stays the original the MLS accepts and the marketing image the agent uses. The bracket frames behind it are what can be checked against the camera, each on its own. The merge is the original for the statute and the MLS alike; nothing in either asks for a single frame. Choosing a frame is a Lumethic convention for the check only, and the middle exposure is the sensible one to nominate: it is a plausible photo of the room, it is the frame most merges are built around, and it is the one a buyer would recognise. Your delivery then reads: this is the original the MLS shows, and these are the camera frames it was built from, checked. For a single-frame exterior the two are the same file.
Two kinds of image stay out of the check entirely and should be labelled that way in the delivery: true twilight composites built from several flash pops, and drone panoramas or stitched shots. They can carry a disclosure and an original like any other image; they just cannot be checked against one camera frame.
The delivery, step by step
Steps 1 to 3, with the agent's MLS upload and disclosure, are the compliance. Steps 4 and 5 are the addition this guide is about; a delivery that stops after step 3 meets the rules.
- Shoot as you do now. RAW plus JPEG, or RAW only, on whatever camera you use. Keep the bracket sets you already send to your editor. Nothing about the shoot changes.
- Make the semi-finished originals. Develop each view with the exempt adjustments only: exposure, white balance, straightening, lens correction, cropping. For merged interiors, that is your merge. For single-frame views, that is the developed frame.
- Make the altered versions on copies, and note for each one what was changed. That note becomes the label in the MLS photo description and your own disclosure line, which also has to say that the unaltered image can be seen at the link or QR code.
- Check the camera originals. Upload each single-frame original with its RAW to Lumethic, from the web app or the Lightroom plugin; for a merged interior, upload the bracket frames with their RAWs. The checked JPEG, the report and the check date stay on a public page anyone can open without an account. For each original that verifies, there is also a badge version of the photo: the same image with the check date stamped in the corner and a strip along the bottom that carries the camera settings and a reference code in the form L-XXXXXX. The badge version is for brochures and social posts, not for the MLS upload, which takes the plain original. Originals that come back provisional, unrated or flagged get a page but no badge.
- Deliver. The originals folder, the altered folder with its labels, the check links, and the badge versions of the originals that verified. The agent uploads the plain original photos to the MLS beside the altered ones as before, and uses the links and the badge versions everywhere the MLS media set does not reach: the brochure, the brokerage site, social posts, email. Where print needs a QR code, the check page and the share dialog offer one as a PNG download that opens the check page; the statute accepts a link, a URL or a QR code. If your delivery platform has a link field, put the check link there, so it travels with the photos whether or not the agent adds it by hand.
Verify only what needs it if you prefer. The statute asks for originals where images were altered, so a delivery of thirty photos with four replaced skies needs four checked originals, not thirty.
What the check establishes and what it does not
A checked original exists in two forms. The check page is public: anyone with the link opens it without an account and sees the result, the date the check was made, the delivered photo beside the picture developed from the camera's RAW file, and the file's own details, including the date and camera model the camera recorded. The badge version is the same photo with the check date stamped in the corner and a strip along the bottom carrying the camera settings and a reference code in the form L-XXXXXX. The badge is what goes into a brochure or a social post; the plain original is what goes into the MLS.
Read the page for four things. The check date is the service's own fact. The camera's date and model are the camera's record, which its owner can set, so treat them as recorded, not proven. "Verified" means the delivered JPEG matches the camera's RAW file within the check's tolerance. And then what the check does not establish, which your delivery note should say in so many words: where the photo was taken, whether it is the property advertised, who owns it, whether it still looks like this, and small changes below the tolerance. That last point is why your own disclosure line stays beside the check. A checked original corroborates the source of the image. It is not a statement that nothing was edited, and a delivery that said so would be wrong.
For the agent, the practical meaning is a sentence they could not say before: the original I posted was checked against the camera file. For the buyer it is a page they can open from the link, or find from the reference code on a printed badge, and read in a minute. Neither replaces the disclosure, the MLS upload, or a viewing.
Billing it
Studios price the originals package differently: some include the labelled originals and a public gallery with every shoot, others sell it as a line item. Photographers already sell edits as line items (twilight conversion, sky replacement, virtual staging) and resell staging at a markup; checked originals fit the same invoice. A line reading "checked originals with QR code, per listing" at a few dollars per listing covers the Basic plan, which at 25 checks a month is enough for a photographer with a handful of altered exteriors per listing; a studio delivering hundreds of checked frames a month recovers the Professional plan inside its first two or three listings. Either way the line turns a compliance chore into something the agent can point to.
Two things to say in the price list so the line stays honest: the check covers the camera originals, not the merged interior, and it says "matches within tolerance", not "unaltered".
For brokerages: one paragraph for the vendor agreement
The San Diego guidance tells photographers they are best protected by defining the deliverables in their contracts and invoices. A brokerage's vendor agreement is the mirror of that sentence. If yours already requires original, unaltered photos, one clause makes the originals checkable:
The photographer delivers, for every image altered beyond the adjustments exempted by Business and Professions Code Section 10140.8, the original, unaltered image as a separate file and a label naming the alteration and stating that the unaltered image can be accessed at the link, together with a publicly accessible link or QR code that identifies the original. Where the photographer holds the camera's RAW file, the original is delivered with an independent check of the delivered image against that file, and the link shows the check's date and result.
Adapt the wording to your own agreement and have it reviewed; it is a starting point, not counsel.
Frequently asked questions
Does a Lumethic link satisfy AB 723 on its own? For the statute's link requirement, a public page that includes and clearly identifies the original is the form the law describes, provided the disclosure beside the altered image says the original can be seen there. It does not satisfy the MLS rules, which require the original photo uploaded in the listing media, and it does not replace the disclosure statement on or next to the altered image. Deliver all three. This is general information, not legal advice.
Which frame of a bracket is the original? The MLS accepts the merged, semi-finished image as the original. For the camera check, nominate the middle exposure and deliver the bracket frames with it. The merge is shown as the marketing image, not checked.
Do I have to send RAW files to the agent? No. The San Diego guidance says untouched RAW files are not expected. You keep the RAW and upload it for the check only; the agent gets the semi-finished original, the altered version, the label and the link.
What about photos I did not alter? They need no disclosure, no link and no original. Only altered images trigger the duty. Checking unaltered exteriors anyway is a choice, not a requirement.
Is the check a guarantee that nothing was edited? No. It establishes that the delivered file matches the camera's RAW within tolerance, with the dates. Small edits can sit inside the tolerance, and merged interiors are not checked at all. Keep your own disclosure of what was changed beside it.
What happens to the link if I cancel my subscription? Links created for a listing should stay live for the life of the listing and a dispute window after it. Ask the service for that in writing before you build a delivery on it. Lumethic's terms do not yet name a listing-specific period, so ask us the same question.
What happens to my RAW file? The check uses it for the comparison. It is not shown on the check page and cannot be downloaded from it, by you or by anyone with the link. The agent never needs it.
Does this apply outside California? Wisconsin requires a disclosure from 1 January 2027 and no original. New York has two bills, one of which would require the original for sale and lease listings. Elsewhere the MLS rules and general advertising law apply. The delivery above works anywhere; only the legal duty differs.
