Last year was my first as an FAA certified commercial drone pilot.

The year had some interesting projects, but I quickly realized that there was an equally important need for ground-based photography.

At the time I launched the new business, although my video equipment was fine, I didn't feel that my older still-photo camera equipment was quite capable of producing photographs of equal quality compared to the newer drones' HD cameras.

Knowing that discrepancy would not help a client wasn't acceptable to me.  I initially thought it would not be an issue because there are other photographers to shoot quality interior real estate photos.

However, while I was concerned about possible mixed image quality, I had overlooked a more important part of both photography and advertising, and that is style continuity. 

Different photographers not only have different cameras, but different camera settings, composition styles, and post-production editing styles.

This disparity can lead to interior, exterior and aerial photographs having different colors, contrast, and general composition, so that on screen or in print, they look cobbled together to the viewer.




A property listing where photos look and feel obviously different is not good for promotion.       

Ideally, photos should have as similar a style as possible, so that the viewer doesn't even register a difference as they flip through them.

Last year, there were a couple of property listings where my aerial photos looked sufficiently different from the interior shots by another photographer.

With that in mind, I knew I had to offer ground-based photos as well. So, I invested in a completely new camera setup- including lighting, camera stabilizers and sliders for video- and a new high resolution DSLR camera and lenses.

Now, my shoots are synchronized. I have the same settings on my drone cameras as the DSLR, so the property listing photos have consistent styles across air and ground.

And because the photos were all taken by me, the post-production time is more streamlined.  I can also add graphical effects, like call-outs highlighting features, and any necessary photo retouching.

The best thing is that the Realtor doesn't have to wait for two separate photographers to process and get the final photos back to them- and it costs less.

When you want to make an impression by mixing aerial photography and video in with your ground-based photos, imagination is the only limitation. 

Terry Young is an FAA licensed drone pilot and professional photographer and videographer.  His 30 plus years of experience in pre- and post-production of both still photography and video, coupled with the latest equipment,  enable him to capture amazing, high quality images.

www.AirAspects.com

757-549-4764