Aerial photography - a whole new perspective

With the availability of consumer camera drones aerial photography is becoming ever more popular. Becoming airborne is providing a whole new perspective.

Same as shooting in exotic places, aerial photography is providing images telling some special stories.

On one of my last trips to remote islands in Indonesia I was carrying a drone with me. It was quite an adventure to start, fly and shoot with a drone in uncharted areas and under inexperienced conditions.

DJI Mavic Pro - Togean Islands, Tomini Bay, Indonesia

Photography from the air is one of the best ways to capture landscapes and landmarks. It provides unique opportunity to showcase the space and dimensions of a certain geographical area. It provides a total different perception of texture and patterns, of light, of lines and shapes - be it in nature or in urban areas.

DJI Mavic Pro - Spring landscape, Fricktal, Switzerland

While it is difficult to simultaneously fly a drone, control the camera capture, and frame the shot, todays drones offer a cheap possibility for aerial photography. Camera quality is excellent, technology in terms of image stabilisation and ease to operate is unmatched. The opportunities are endless.

Nikon D800, f2.8 70-200mm, pictures taken from ultralight plane (https://microlightcambodia.net) - Kampong Phluk, Siem Reap, Cambodia

On one of our trips to South East Asia we took the opportunity to hire a ultralight plane from (https://microlightcambodia.net). So far this was one of my most exciting aerial photography experiences. Eddie the pilot - an American living in the area of Siem Reap for almost 20 years and running his ultralight planes mainly for research purpose in understanding the hydrology of the Tonle Sap lake is an excellent aerial guide. While he knows a lot about the area, nature, people, society, culture, and all the historical details about the temples of Angkor, he was giving me plenty of photography tips. Tips which allowed me to take decent shots during this 90 minutes flight around the Tonle Sap and Angkor archeological sites. - That was an experience which I will never forget. And the item to go back and take the opportunity to enrich my portfolio with pictures from more flights with Eddie remains quite high on my bucket list.

As a side note. The country of Cambodia offers many other opportunities for life changing experiences and amazing photography. We took a private 10 day tour with Kambocello (http://kambocello.com) a small private Swiss-Cambodian business that brings you in places you would probably not pass by when travelling individually or with other operators. If you are interested, check out my travel photography galleries from Cambodia (www.andreasrmueller.com)

Nikon D700, f2.8 24-70mm, pictures taken from a sightseeing flight around Bernese Alps, Switzerland

The most expensive aerial photography experience I took so far was hiring a little plane for a sightseeing flight around the Swiss Alps. Advantages of hiring a plane is that it brings you in heights and can reach distances which none of the other options can compete. Clear disadvantage is that you have to shoot through the windows of a plane which is a true challenge in terms of reflections and other unwanted optical effects.

Check out our aerial photography portfolio at Alamy: https://www.alamy.de/portfolio/andreasrmueller/aerial.html