Views from Above Aerial photography is the “only way to fly” when you want a photographic description of a property. For many properties, aerial photography is the only way to provide a useful visual representation. There are many uses for real estate aerial photography but two of the most common are advertising for real estate and progress and planning on construction projects. I use a several platforms including “hanging out the door” in traditional manned aircraft as well as low level unmanned aerial systems. The aerial platforms provides high definition still imagery and full HD 1080p video. Still images are scaleable to very large poster or wall size prints and can be marked-up to highlight important features. The video can easily be embedded on your company web and social media sites, as well as video sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. These videos can be a simple slideshow of still images, or have moving aerial video and can include titles, captions and music.
Real Estate Aerial Photos for Advertising Steve Loos Real Estate Video Channel The video channel above is shows a collection of aerial videos, including that of an 11,000 ranch in Central California. The full scale of the ranch is shown using aerial video of the ranch, and interior HD video of the main home. Many property listings can benefit from adding moving HD video to the potential buyers viewing experience.
Traditional Aircraft & Remote Controlled Aerial Photography Platforms
Traditional manned aircraft aerial photography can be expensive, but are sometimes the only way to capture high level views, stand-off views of urban centers, or views in remote or water locations. Jeff Bezos made headlines recently with the idea of package delivery using remote controlled helicopters. While we are not going to be delivering your packages from Amazon, we use the same type of aerial platform to produce our low level aerial images. These small platforms (“Unmanned Aerial Systems” or UAS) can be deployed and retrieved within a very small footprint; in fact most will easily fit in the trunk of a compact car and are perfect for close-in low level aerial photography. These systems operated below 400′ that remain within the line-of-site of the photographer pilot. A “first person view” system is used throughout the flight that provides the photographer a real time view through the camera lens, and this assures the shots are made quickly and efficiently with minimal flight time. The cost per hour for this system is a small fraction of the cost for traditional aerial photography from small aircraft.
Safety and the FAA
We take flying and safety very seriously. I am a licensed instrument rated pilot and operate under an approved FAA 333 COA for sUAS (small unmanned aerial systems) for real estate photography. To keep current on the operation of UAS, I spend hundreds of hours on helicopter simulators in addition to actual flight time. Many groups, ours included are working with the FAA and Civil organizations to create and update regulations to license, certify and train pilots for using the UAS for commercial use. The regulations for commercial private use of UAS are scheduled for public comment in 2014 and release in 2015; these procedures are already in place for use of UAS in the public sector. All flights are performed under the current rules of the FAA and AMA for flying of the UAS and include operation of the aircraft no higher than 400 feet above the ground, within line-of-site of the pilot, not within 5 miles of an airport, not flown in a manner that will interfere with operation of manned aircraft, and not flown in a manner that will endanger persons or property. On UAS flights, the First Person View systems used in these flights are detached video monitors that allow the pilot to both keep the aircraft in view at all times and view real time images from the camera and in many instances aircraft spotters and also used. Flying with the use of FPV Goggles is not allowed in my company. These goggles provide the pilot with a really cool and immersive view through the camera lens, but the goggles blind the pilot to the actual location of the aircraft and surrounding environment. For more information: FAA UAS AMA Safety Code