Most of the time you see a photographer snapping photos and think "ah that's cool, they must have a good eye" and while that is probably true what you don't see is the 'real work', the post editing process. 

What you see when you look out at the real world is vastly different from what a camera captures.  Our eyes are magnificent in what we are able to see without even being aware of all they are taking in.  Once we see something our mind is processing it instantly and compiling what what we are seeing without us even being aware of it.  For example next time you are in a room with wood floors or wood cabinets take a minute and look and see if you notice shades or hues of these colors: orange, yellow, red, and purple. You'll may also notice those colors vary with sunlight vs fluorescent light vs incandescent light.  When we look at things with our eyes we take it all in at once and get a composition of the image that's been processed and is constantly updating.  However a camera only transfers the image information (light and shape) back to a disk or film, there is no processing done like the way our mind has just done in the blink of an eye.

Post edit work is the work we photographers do after the photo has been taken.  Programs like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop or Camera Raw are just a few that can help us process the photo so that it looks more like we see it with our eyes.  Yes, we can use these programs to enhance the photo too and often photographers do.  The reason is that we all want the image to look the best as it possibly can and what may look the best to one person may not look the best to the next.   When it comes to real estate photography post edit work is the toughest.  We have to make sure that it looks the best it can look without looking different than what a client will see.  One thing that is most often brought up is "I don't want it to look fake" or "I don't want the client saying it looks different than the photo".   Whether you photograph in HDR or with multiple flashes you will have heard this at some point in time but what you need to remember is you are providing the best looking image to the client just as an agent is going to show the house when they think it would look best i.e. time of day, all the lights turned on and blinds opened, messy closets closed or marks on the wall covered.  There is nothing fake about, the fact is when we stand in a room our eyes see everything and processes it so we may be in a room and see a beautiful kitchen but the camera shows a nice kitchen with yellow - orangey cabinets and dark shadows in the corners.  It is our job to hopefully get close to the beauty that our eyes and our minds are able to see.

Our work doesn't end after the shutter closes.