Commercial Aerial Photography
companies and Videographers alike have offered the production of video
footage from the air or an elevated position for many years.
There are many different platforms from which to elevate the equipment including the following:
Helicopter
Remote controlled Helicopters
Tethered Balloons and blimps
Fixed wing aircraft
The above platforms all have their advantages and disadvantages but
often the platform used will be dictated by the budget and end use of
the footage. For example if broadcast quality is required with a
gyro-stabilisation system then often a helicopter will be used with
externally mounted equipment. This system of Aerial Filming requires a large budget compared to others but the results can be very impressive.
If the end use is corporate promotional DVD’s then often a HDV hand
held recorder is sufficient and this can provide the results at a much
lower cost. Many Aerial Photography
companies in UK offer this service and the use of Pixel locking
software will take out any camera shake and vibrations. There is
obviously a trade off between quality and stabilisation when using this
software but the videographer should understand what is required by the
client and work to their specifications.
It must be remembered that the different systems available are not
really competing with each other as they all offer vastly different
results. Aerial filming is a
specialist service and Aerial Photography companies will have much of
the knowledge regarding UK airspace regulations and weather to provide
a service that is second to none.
Remote controlled helicopters, tethered balloons and blimps offer a
much lower perspective and usually at a much lower cost. Remote
controlled helicopters can also provide more ground speed and are
therefore more suited to tracking fast moving objects on the ground.
Keith McGregor is a partner of Strawberrysoup, a web design agency with offices in Chichester and Bournemouth. Strawberrysoup specialise in creative web design, content managed websites, search engine optimisation, search engine marketing and graphic design
