Show us what you shot.



Gunter

Gunter

Draganflyer X4
Guys, thanks for the comments, it all helps improve the overall product!

DennyR said:
Gunter

If I may offer a few words of wisdom in this regard. Successful commercial aerial photography is all about capturing the image in a better way than your competitors do. Timing is of the essence because whether you are shooting in a studio or outside, the light is the critical factor. Half an hour can make a lot of difference sometimes. Shooting with flat lighting may show some extra detail in the shadows but your customer will always want to see good color on a bright sunny day. You may need to shoot one elevation in the morning and another in the afternoon. So the sun position is the key factor. Partial cloud cover on part of the image is also a no no. Planning is therefore a very important part because you don't want to be shooting into the shadows. As Mobasaflash said, wide angle distortions don't cut the mustard. I shoot with a 50 mm lens in portrait and then stitch the panos. It is a technique that is widely used in architectural photography.

Another technique to create a low light highly manipulated effect, showing the lights on inside the house with that warm glow. This is done about an hour before dusk and then darkened slightly. This is an art form in itself and one that needs to be developed if you want award winning pictures. Most of this stuff can be done in Photoshop.

When you consider that most of the modern camera ISO tests start at 500 ASA and then go up to 25,000 ASA then you can see that low iso settings of say 100 are not going to give you any benefit, The opposite is true in fact. because what you need is the optimized performance from the lens which will be somewhere around F8.
A setting of 100 ASA or less is what we use for differential focussing effects in cinematography. Often used with a Neutral Density filter to cut down the available light. This creates a very narrow depth of field which is NOT what we want in AP.

Hope this info can be of benefit as you develop your business. There is no novelty factor these days, only the best can survive.
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Denny, I totally understand what you are saying. There are 2 main problems though.

1. I don't come from a photographic background. Probably my biggest downfall. I do aerial photography because I enjoy the effect of being able to get a camera in the air and taking photos that not many others can. I haven't had any training and don't understand all of the ISO and other terms...yes, I should learn a bit! I have gathered a bit of experience from taking photos, panoramas etc and reading a bit on the internet, but I am still at the basic/intermediate level. Guys like you can apply all of your experience and take stunning photos, apply the correct effects and use the perfect settings...I just set it to auto and snap away :)

2. I am trying to corner a section of the estate agency market where "stunning" shots aren't required. Most of the agencies like Knight Frank and others are top end agencies, but they still seem to send anyone out with a point and shoot camera, and then put those images in their website. Most of the images I have seen could do with being improved. I don't know why they don't employ a professional photographer to photograph all of their properties, and then display them on their website in a way that makes you say "wow" ie in better quality and larger format.

So what I am trying to say is, for the money I am charging, I can't justify visiting a property 2 or 3 times in a day to get that perfect shot, or visiting every day for a week to get the perfect sunrise or sunset shot. I need to visit once when the weather is good, take the pictures and then get my butt back home to process and email the images. Otherwise I would be charging so much it would scare them away. (They are already reluctant to pay £100 or £200 for a 2 hour shoot!)

MombasaFlash said:
Denny is right. The novelty of having an image shot from the air wears off frighteningly quickly - if it hasn't largely done so already. After that the attention shifts back to the basic artistry of the photography. Light and composition. Half an hour can make the difference between 'OK' and 'Wow' but, yes, you have to balance shadow detail with contrast.

Gunter, I totally agree with your feeling that an aerial should show the surroundings. It is pretty much the whole raison d'être. But this facility still has to be used selectively. The shots you took of Fountain Court, Wellington Park, Field of Dreams etc. are taken at an appropriate altitude and show the extensive grounds or surroundings much as the eye wishes to see. In contrast, Pool Cottage seems way to close from that angle and the result feels 'uncomfortable'.
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MombasaFlash, thank you for the comments...and thanks for taking a look at my website. Yes, Pool Cottage was a difficult one, but the reason is because there is a row of trees right behind the cottage. In order to get the entire house and property in, I had to stand on the other side of the trees and get to about 40m altitude to actually see everything. A lower altitude wasn't possible. (PS: Did you look at the front page image slider, or the the blog? There are a few more pics on my blog)

I have a job this weekend I need to do as a demonstration. I will post details in another post soon and see what you guys think is the best position and altitude!

Cheers,

Gunter.
 

D

DennyR

Active Member
I understand, you will learn as you go and then it all comes naturally. Point and shoot cameras are the way to go for most MK shootings. The high end stuff for the greater part is male jewelry it will hardly get used except by the few who really understand the market place and the equipment. If I can get by with a gopro on a shoot it will be my number one choice for a great many reasons. Nothing more that a nex-7 is ever needed for broadcast TV. Weight is the enemy...... My flight time with a goPro is about twenty mins and with a panasonic HDC-TM900 it is about 7-8 mins as it needs a better camera mount.

A 5D or a Red etc should be used with a much more lift efficient machine like a T-Rex800. IMHO.
Shooting a job for 200 pounds is what a lot of full size operators will willingly do because they will do 10 of those in one flight and be back on the ground before you even got to the site. MR ops. are really only good for local stuff as a commercial enterprise.
 
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MombasaFlash

MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
I entirely agree with all that Denny. I have sometimes to go back to original camera files to ascertain whether a particular shot was taken with the Canon 5D or the Pentax Optio P&S! The Optio on the smaller MR gives me nearly eighteen minutes in the air.

And your last comment is spot on. My brother is a pro photographer in Kenya and he sets up a string of clients and shoots them all in a row in one flight. It is the only way to produce results that the clients can afford and certainly more efficient and cost effective than r/c helis or MR's - for that sort of altitude - where each location has to accessed first, before you unpack the gear, prepare and finally shoot.
 



jforkner

jforkner

Member

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Kilby

Kilby

Active Member
J.T. said:
More Essex marsh etc, Canon s90 1/800th.
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Nice one, J.T.! You really got some height on that last one!

I'm heading to the shore this weekend myself. I hope to come back with some good s90 shots as well. ;-)
 

O

ovdt

Member
MombasaFlash said:
I hope you have a buddy looking out for aircraft when you do these mile high stunts.
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Hello Mombasa,

We go on the field with 3 guys. The cameraman, the pilot and co-pilot.

Co-pilot has eye contact on the kopter and he watches the battery all the time and the altitude.

As a pilot, i fly from fpv and i also control the copter parameters. Cameraman is handling the angles and telling me if the height is enough or not. And i am constantly telling the pilot how much time left for his pictures.
 

MombasaFlash

MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
ovdt said:
Hello Mombasa,

We go on the field with 3 guys. The cameraman, the pilot and co-pilot.

Co-pilot has eye contact on the kopter and he watches the battery all the time and the altitude.

As a pilot, i fly from fpv and i also control the copter parameters. Cameraman is handling the angles and telling me if the height is enough or not. And i am constantly telling the pilot how much time left for his pictures.
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Actually, I meant keeping an eye out for other aircraft.

I am dreading the day when a light plane is brought down by an fpv MR. The fpv MR pilot is unaware of anything else but what he sees in his goggles and, at the same time, the MR itself would be invisible to a light aircraft pilot until it is too late to avoid. Until the arrival of fpv technology, modellers and full size pilots could safely coexist in the same sky. Nevertheless, regulations were still put in place limiting maximum altitudes for modellers for safety reasons. Safety to others!

Aerial photography using radio controlled models evolved and was generally known as Close Range Low Altitude Aerial Photography. It handled the airspace unavailable to full size aircraft and by necessity was Line-Of-Sight and did not change anything. But now MR's and fpv have come along and of course there are those who like to push the boundaries. MR's are being taken way above regulated safety maximum altitudes. Personally I am not at all impressed by mile high pics. MR's require virtually no skill whatsoever to fly so anyone can do it, there is nothing clever about it. I consider it foolhardy and irresponsible.

You are making a good effort at responsible behaviour by operating as a three-man team but we all know that the world is full of selfish and ignorant types who would not stop to consider such things.
 

D

DennyR

Active Member
It is not just MR's that can cause this kind of problem. Many times when I was landing at Shoreham airport gliders on the adjacent hill would often try and get close. Seen FPV guys and Hang gliders at around 5,000 feet. I never complained but many did. The problem with models is than you don't see them if they are below you.
 

O

ovdt

Member
I agree with the danger of these crafts, once they are out of control; espically a heavy craft can cause huge problems incase of a crash.

When I have to fly high altitudes, I just make sure its nowhere near airports. And, I check commercial airplanes route through flightradar24.com website. Of course there is always a risk of real helicopter to fly at these altitudes.
 

D

DennyR

Active Member
In the UK there are designated military flights given out in the NOTAMS and posted on the board at all active airfields. How many modelers will read that! Jets can be operating at up to 450mph and as low as 250 feet. Thats is why light aircraft are not cleared below 500 feet outside of controlled airspace accept for T/O and landing. And yes there has been a mid air when an aerial photographer was flying too low. Closing speed was around 500 mph.
 

Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Not sure of the rules and regs in Turkey but here in the uK is set in stone.. Personally there is no way I would ever attempt to go 600m! Even if I could. Big kahunas there Ovdt for that.. and a nice shot BUT that could have been taken from a traditional plane or hele..

I want to get the stuff they cant!

Dave
 

Bowley

Bowley

Member
Yeah, just got a stiff reality check on the dangers of these things about half an hour ago, this was the final shot before plummeting to the ground, damage assessment underway!!

View attachment 4290
 

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Bowley

Bowley

Member
Not too sure, think I lost a motor, might have been a failed solder joint on an ESC/Motor connector pin, the connection was broken but could have been a result rather than a cause. took me by surprise, the futility of watching an MR fail, there absolutely nothing you can do but watch it fall and pick up the pieces. the 5500mA Lipo looks like a banana, 2 broken booms, broken skids, 2 broken load mounts and last but definitely not least a damaged camera mount. Its only an X650 so shouldnt be too pricey to patch up. the XA camera mount damage stings a bit though, no parts supplied to resellers as far as I can see, so looks its a write off. Oh, camera destroyed also, thank God I was just using a £28 refurbished Canon A490 Point and shoot!!
 


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