aerial photography - Aerial Photography Challenges

Photography of the ground surface from an aerial viewpoint such as a balloon or aircraft, with application to archaeology, ecology, geology, and wartime reconnaissance. In aerial survey mapping, the aircraft flies at a constant height along specified paths, taking pictures at regular intervals to build up a mosaic of overlapping images; ground contour and building heights are measured by viewing pairs of images stereoscopically.

Aerial photography is the taking of photographs from above with a camera mounted, or hand held, on an aircraft, helicopter, balloon, rocket, kite, skydiver or similar vehicle. Aerial photographs are analyzed in preparation of many Phase I Environmental Site Assessments for real property analysis.

Recent advances in radio controlled models has made it possible for radio controlled model aircraft to conduct low-altitude aerial photography.

Because anything capable of being viewed from a public space is considered outside the realm of privacy, aerial photography may legally document features and occurrences on private property.

For amateurs without pilot license one of the easiest ways to make aerial photographs is using an Astrocam or an Oracle modell rocket.

Aerial Photography Challenges

Aerial photography includes many challenges not present in non-aerial photography. Some of these include:

Perspective correction - Aerial photographs are typically taken at an angle to the object being photographed instead of directly overhead. See orthophoto Registration - Aerial photographs usually are mapped to the real world objects (streets, buildings, etc) being photographed to facilitate using the aerial photograph in a data analysis, database, or other computer system. For example, an aerial photograph may be converted into a series of lines based on the roads contained in the photograh. Stitching - In order to create an aerial photograph of a large area, multiple photographs must be taken. Stiching involves joining those photographs together so that they form a single large photograph.