Getting the Perfect Aerial Shot

Joshua Hulm
Jul 25, 2016
2 min read

Technology sure has come a long way since George Eastman first introduced the world to the Kodak Camera back in 1885. His original heavy, wooden camera was the size of a small television and required the user to sit perfectly still for upward of 3 minutes to capture a grainy moment in time.

Jump forward to today and every John. Dick and Sally has a phone in his or her pocket - auto-focus, panoramas and a swag of inbuilt effect filters are the new norm.... Some things never change though, and the difference between a good photograph and a bad one still depends on a handful of basic rules, none of which impacts the end result of an image quite as much as good lighting.

The 'Golden Hours' photographers often speak of span an hour from sunrise in the morning and an hour till sun set in the afternoon. This magical time lengthens shadows, softens the light of the sun and throws glorious colours across the skies. If you take one thing from this blog let it be that a photo taken during the Golden Hours will be vastly prettier than one taken at any other time.

Aerial photography follows these same rules, however it's one thing to have a camera in your hand and a completely other thing to have your camera 400 feet above you. Wind, perspective and obstacles must be monitored constantly, not to mention ensuring the shadow of your quad remains outside the frame of the shot.

Any aerial photographer worth his salt will be thinking about light at all times - Where is the sun? Where are the shadows? What direction will I need to be facing to ensure this subject looks its absolute best? There are apps galore available these days to assist in tracking the movements of the sun, and when all else fails a compass and a basic grasp of math will do just as well.

So remember, technology can only help so much in the quest for a beautiful image. Pay attention to the light and stay tuned for more tips and tricks.

Cheers,