Aerial Photography

[sconner69]

I have been requested by my company to take some aerial photos of our mill. Does any one have any good tips for this?

I will be in a Helicopter, I will be using my Canon T1i with a 70 to 200mm f/4 L IS Canon lens. They are spending $250 for the Heli so I want to make sure I do a good job so any pointers would be fantastic.

Thanks,
Scott

[PhotosGuy]

Shooting from a Helicopter (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=707548)

Aerial Photography (http://photo.net/learn/aerial/primer)

[golfecho]

Another thought . .. how about a small tethered balloon? You see balloon rides at carnivals once in a while, but if you can find one that holds only 2 or 3 people, you could tether it to a truck somewhere near where you want the shot. It is stable, no struts in the way, the pilot has far less "flying" to worry about, you can get as close as you want, and you can raise and lower your altitude to get different perspectives. The down side is you can't maneuver much to get another angle. Once up, you are pretty much "there". You would have to come down to move the balloon, and repositioning with an inflated balloon would be iffy, depending on obstacles in the area.

Don't forget to account for the sun angle and consider the time of day, no matter which way you go . . .

Have fun!

[Travis Forsyth]

And most importantly of all don't fall out :D

[sconner69]

Thanks for the tips and the links, very much appreciated!

And most importantly of all don't fall out :D

Yeah Travis that is goal #1 LOL

[ssim]

I've done a great deal of aerial work and the best suggestion that I can give you is do not shoot through the windows. Make sure that you are going to be able to open a door/window once your reach your shooting altitude. I always spend some time with the pilot on the ground discussing this. I normally try to use the same pilot and we have developed some hand and arm signals that so that I don't have to turn around to talk to him and yell at him given the wind and engine noise once you have that door or window open.

[sconner69]

I took my flight last Saturday AM, we wanted to go early around 8 8:30 am but it was too cold and the steam from the mill would have ruined the shots so we did not get up until 11:00 am did fairly well but some of the shots were a tad over exposed but that was easy fix in DPP. Thanks again for all of the pointers, I think the only thing that could have benefited was a polarizer but that would have been one more thing to worry about. Here are a couple of the shots and again thanks for the tips!

Wabash County Court House
http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_1.JPG

Dads House
http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_2.JPG

Back of mill
http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_3.JPG

East Side of mill
http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_4.JPG

Our house
http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_5.JPG

R44 - Pilot is taking door off
http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_6.JPG

Me and two of my kids they flew with me (Taken by pilot)http://www.brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Aerial_7.JPG

[-AP-]

Excellent job.. Thanks for posting the images and exif.. Any beginner tips??

[sconner69]

Excellent job.. Thanks for posting the images and exif.. Any beginner tips??

Well since this was my first aerial I am not the one to ask LOL. Seriously I forgot to put the hood on the lens, I think that may have helped some with the haze. Maybe not, it has been easy to get rid of with DPP since I shot everything in RAW. If you look at the fourth pic titled East Side of mill you will see some of what I am talking about. It is much worse in the picture from the north pointing back into the sun.
If you need a lens, rent one, I rented a 70-200 f/4L from Lens Giant. It was a fantastic lens for this job and Lens Giant was superb to work with.

My pilot had his Heli equipped with headsets for all four of us so communication was a breeze. My daughter took her Nikon Coolpix P&S with her and shot through the glass and still got some amazing pictures but make sure that door is off, I had allot more freedom to get my shots without it there.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[FlyingPhotog]

The OP actully done good not using a lens hood.
They catch the wind like crazy and make lenses much less aerodynamic.

Unless you know for sure that the facade you want to capture faces the rising or setting sun, aerials are one of the few photography activities that can benefit from shooting closer to mid-day.

[-AP-]

Well since this was my first aerial I am not the one to ask LOL.

Actually, that's exactly why I asked. Great tips there as well.. Thanks so much. Again, you got some really good results, nice job..!!

Jay do you fly? I was thinking about using http://www.phxheli.com/ for a possible project up north. Also considered Quantum, but they are a bit pricey.

[FlyingPhotog]

Actually, that's exactly why I asked. Great tips there as well.. Thanks so much. Again, you got some really good results, nice job..!!

Jay do you fly? I was thinking about using http://www.phxheli.com/ for a possible project up north. Also considered Quantum, but they are a bit pricey.

I have my PP-ASEL

[Travis Forsyth]

Glad to see you took my advice and didn't fall out.

[sconner69]

Glad to see you took my advice and didn't fall out.

Travis, I have to say you crack me up the delivery is brilliant!
This is a little off subject but I have acrophobia (Fear of heights) pretty bad. So when he took that door off I was really nervous. But just like in an airplane the heights really did not bother me. Plus I was so damn busy, snapped off over 250 pictures in 30 minutes, I didn't have much time to concern my self with my fear.
But I did triple check that seat belt before we took off!!

[sconner69]

The OP actully done good not using a lens hood.
They catch the wind like crazy and make lenses much less aerodynamic.

Unless you know for sure that the facade you want to capture faces the rising or setting sun, aerials are one of the few photography activities that can benefit from shooting closer to mid-day.


i did not think about it but you are right on with the lens hood, heck just sticking the lens out cause some serious down force on the camera. So how do you "lessen" the haze you get when you shoot back at the sun? Here it is November we are up at 11am the sun is low in the south as it always is here in Indiana in the winter, and this building faces due north. I had no choice but to shoot into the sun. Here is an unedited version of what I got from this scenario. I have been able to adjust it out with DPP but every shot facing south has this "haze" to it.

http://brandy-scott.com/Our_Home_Site/Pictures_files/POTN/Haze.jpg

[FlyingPhotog]

i did not think about it but you are right on with the lens hood, heck just sticking the lens out cause some serious down force on the camera. So how do you "lessen" the haze you get when you shoot back at the sun? Here it is November we are up at 11am the sun is low in the south as it always is here in Indiana in the winter, and this building faces due north. I had no choice but to shoot into the sun. Here is an unedited version of what I got from this scenario. I have been able to adjust it out with DPP but every shot facing south has this "haze" to it.

A Curves Adjustment might help.

Honestly, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. The abolute best solution would be to shoot this in the summer when the sun isn't so low to the horizon but I understand that the client wants what the client wants.

[Travis Forsyth]

Travis, I have to say you crack me up the delivery is brilliant!
This is a little off subject but I have acrophobia (Fear of heights) pretty bad. So when he took that door off I was really nervous. But just like in an airplane the heights really did not bother me. Plus I was so damn busy, snapped off over 250 pictures in 30 minutes, I didn't have much time to concern my self with my fear.
But I did triple check that seat belt before we took off!!


I try :D, pretty brave of you to overcome a fear like that for some great shots.