If you want your business to stand out from the crowd, you will need to go above and beyond for your customers. Aerial photography is one of the best photography types that is taking off right now and yet it is still overlooked as a worthwhile marketing tool in a lot of industries. This makes it a great opportunity that you should immediately take advantage of. When you maximise its use, you will achieve great results. This article will cover the 5 tips your business will need to make the most out of your aerial photography.
5 Aerial Photography Tips for Your Business
1. Choose your aerial photography method wisely
The most appropriate aerial photography method to use will depend on what you are shooting and why. For simple photography projects like real estate and site planning photos, you can just use a drone which is a lot more cost-effective.
However, if you have a large-scale project that would require you to take photos of certain heights and areas that a drone can’t reach, you may need to rent out a helicopter or an airplane.
Using an aircraft can be costly but it also allows you to bring more photography equipment to ensure that you have the highest quality for your aerial photography.
2. Make sure that whatever method you use is approved by an aviation authority
One of the most important tips before starting your aerial photography project is that you will need to make sure that whatever method you will use is approved by an aviation authority. There are serious consequences for flying drones or aircrafts in a specific private area without any formal permits.
One benefit of using chartered flights is that all pilots have the necessary knowledge and permits to clear your flight. For drone flights, make sure to register your drone to the proper aviation authority and use a program like AirMap so that you can authorise your drone path.
3. Schedule your shoot times according to the position of the sun
You will need to schedule your aerial photography shoots according to the sun’s position so that you get the best lighting for all of your photos. When shooting from an aircraft, the best time would be when the sun is around 20 degrees above the horizon.
This will generally be during the early morning or a few hours before the sun sets. However, it can still depend on your location and the time of year.
You should aim for the sun to be slightly lower than 20 degrees if you are simply taking aerial photography from a high building or from a hill. There are websites like suncalc.org which help you view exactly where the sun will be during your shoot. These tips will make sure you will have the optimal lighting for the entirety of your aerial photography shoot.
4. Choose the right lenses for the camera
You will need your cameras to have the right lenses for your aerial photography. It is even more important to choose what lens to use and bring since it will be difficult to change camera lenses when you or a drone is in the air.
Try to find camera brands that also sell lenses with image stabilisation. Using this type of lens can reduce the blur which can be caused by vibrations in an aircraft.
When it comes to the coverage of the lens, 28 millimetres to 400 millimetres is a good range to make sure you properly capture a large area for the photo.
5. Adjust your camera settings to avoid blurring
There are a lot of tips to make sure that you will avoid any blurs in your aerial photography. Another important tip is that you should adjust specific settings in your camera.
Try shooting at a high shutter speed like 1/1000 of a second or even higher so that there are less blurs in your shots. You can also set your camera on autofocus and try securing the setting with a tape so it won’t easily shift back to manual when you move the camera.
5 Different Aerial Photography Types
There are three aerial photography types based on where the camera axis is:
1. Vertical photographs
These photos will have the axis of the camera in a vertical position. This results in a photo that has little to no relief visible in the image.
With this aerial photography type, a smaller amount of area is covered. Most photographers will often take and use vertical photographs like a map.
2. High oblique photographs
High oblique photographs will have a higher degree of tilt which is around 60 degrees. This allows photographers to cover a larger area and also make the horizon visible in the photo.
What makes high oblique photos different from vertical photos is that high oblique photos allow you to better identify manmade and natural features of the area.
3. Low oblique photographs
Low oblique photographs are taken when you tilt the camera axis more than 3 degrees in a way that the horizon line (the area where the sky and the earth meet) is not seen in the photo.
There are two types of aerial photography based on its scale:
4. Large scale aerial photographs
Large scale aerial photographs are when the drone or the aircraft is only flying at a lower elevation. This height gives the camera the ability to capture images of less area, but the objects are seen in a larger dimension.
This means that the ratio of the photo distance to the earth is of a higher value. This aerial photography type is more useful for measuring objects and areas as well as mapping land features.
5. Small scale aerial photographs
When the drone or aircraft is flying at a higher elevation, the photos taken are small scale aerial photographs. This means that a larger area can be covered in just a single photo but the ratio of the object sizes relative to the earth will look smaller.
Using small scale aerial photography is helpful for examining large areas who have features that do not need to be measured or mapped in detail.
Hopefully all of these different aerial photography types and the aerial photography tips mentioned above will make it easier for you to understand how to make use of your own aerial photos for your business.
If your business is looking to incorporate aerial photography, our team at fewStones can definitely help you out.
With fewStones, you will be able to work with a team of professional photographers who know all about the important aerial photography tips to make sure they come out looking great for your business.
You can get a free instant quote on our aerial photography services by clicking here.
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