Introduction to RC Aerial Photography

RC aerial photography (RC = remote control) has gained in popularity in recent years largely due to the availability of inexpensive cameras.

This means affordable aerial photography is open to more people than ever before and beautiful pictures like the one below taken in Hungary can easily be obtained.

There are different types of RC aerial photography systems such as pole aerial photography, aerial kite photography and balloon aerial photography depending on your budget and intentions.

If you have access to an aircraft then you might be lucky enough to get a picture like the one above - if your pilot is going near the south pole that is. However, pole aerial photography where you mount your camera on a 30 foot pole is another matter!

Pole aerial photography is inexpensive and although it sounds a bit weird and wacky, it is in common use by photographers who make images for selling real estate as you can get some interesting angles by going a short way off the ground which can really help to attract customers. I will be talking more about pole aerial photography in a forthcoming section on how to start an aerial photography business.

Balloon aerial photography is another possibility as local airfields often organise balloon flights for small parties. The photograph above was taken from a balloon over the French countryside. The elegant composition has been helped by the simplifying effect of taking a view from on high. Sometimes though, as in the photograph below which was also taken from a balloon, great detail can be included as you get higher up and your viewpoint widens.

Kites offer another type of RC aerial photography which is often used in archeological excavations for the great overview it gives (see below). Archeologist choose the best time of day for light so that the shadows model the land. The photograph below gives you an idea of the kind of images that are possible using a kite and a camera. Notice the kite line in the middle of the picture.

Here are a few more photographs taken by RC aerial photography to whet your appetite.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Probably the best known photographer working in this field is Yann Arthus-Bertrand. He is an international journalist, reporter and sports photographer who lived amongst the Masai tribe in Kenya for three years while studying lions. It was in Africa that he discovered hot-air balloons and fell in love with the beauty of the landscape while flying high above, camera at the ready.

In 1991, he created an agency called the Altitude Agency which is essentially an image bank of 500,000 photographs from around the world taken by more than 100 photographers. Three years later, UNESCO sponsored him to photograph the state of the planet from above and he used helicopters as well as hot-air balloons to create his book Earth from Above which sold over 3 million copies. Through his breath-taking photography, Arthus-Bertrand has created a visual record of human impact on the planet, from the icebergs of Antarctica to the cotton fields of India.

Read about the HISTORY OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY.