Use of Oblique Photography started early

Oblique aerial photography is so called when you take photos from an angle in order to get some details which cannot show if the photos are taken from exactly above the structure to be photographed. Two types of oblique photography soon evolved.  High angle oblique aerial photographs captured the apparent horizon. The low angle variety could not do that, the range being limited.

An aerial photographer always held discussions with clients to know what exactly was needed and the best way to obtain satisfying results.  He made absolutely sure of the scope of his task before boarding the aircraft. Consulting when you were airborne was just not the done in those days when cell phone was non-existent. . A perceptive aerial photographer like the ones with us now made it a point to photograph the target or target area from a wide variety of angles to show all possible access on the ground. Juxtaposed with the ground photos or vertical photographs and by comparison, you could   have a very clear idea of what exactly you were looking at. Unless specifically asked for, the normal practice had been and still is to supply 20 or so photographs. 

Why go for oblique photographs? When the helicopter is circling at the same exact height, a large area could be covered from the same distance. The old aerial photos  thus taken could provide accurate details of the locations. The interpreter had a wide scope of apprehending the details. Objects that could not have a three dimensional perspective in a vertical photographs could be accorded it, though in a limited way.  

Another advantage of oblique photography was the obstructions the clouds could pose. Vertical photography was hampered by the density of clouds rendering the photographs hazy-looking thereby making interpreting that much difficult.  In oblique photography, the angles enabled the camera to penetrate easily through the clouds and capture the view below faithfully to a large extent.


Fore more information : http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/Capturing-Beauty-From-High-Above--Aerial-Photos---/1162993

Old Aerial Photos

When you think of aerial photos, you immediately let your imagination fly and visualize military secrets and a certain James Bond's explosions. Old aerial photos have had their practical applications.  This kind, as any technical innovation tends to, too had made their foray into commercial considerations very early in time and are still being used to view buildings or landed properties accurately. A photograph taken from high up in the sky could provide a very clear picture of the location and the advantage or disadvantage they had.

These days, if you are a photographer who is keen on taking up aerial photography as your career, you need not go about buying an aircraft or a helicopter.  If you have Donald Trump or Prince Charles as your friend, you can always borrow one or even two from them.  The photographers of old times had limited choice and they almost always had to resort to hiring the aircraft. The rents were not very high because aerial photographers were held somewhat in awe.

Rules say that you cannot come down to heights lesser than 1000 feet in urban areas and less than 500 feet above any structure on land or sea.  It did not take long for the photographers to calculate the right height to take photos that would look attractive. And the type of aircraft had played an important role in this.

Cessna were the most ideal, going by experience. Their slow speeds enabled focusing easier than in other aircraft. Their wide windows too were a convenience.   Helicopters, on the other hand, had the facility to hover and also could  fly at very low heights and were found to be quite safe unless there had been  a storm brewing in the area.

The many uses of Old Aerial Photos

Cameras are older than aircraft but when aircraft started flying about, camera too entered airspace and had started doing their thing in the air. Aerial photos lent a whole new perspective to objects and structures on land. The hitherto unperceived angles of things were realized by what became known as aerial photography. Military uses of aerial photography became immense. Even in these days of satellite digital imageries, aerial photos taken from aircraft hold their own in commercial applications.

The uses of aerial photography had soon become varied and wide. How to use a land to its optimum was determined by aerial photos taken from air. Cartography started making use of aerial photography to make topographic maps. Photogrammaetric surveys were made possible by photos taken from up above. Archaeologists carefully studied aerial photographs to determine the areas of their future operations by consulting and analyzing these photographs. Millions of businesses opted for advertisements which were eye-catching and attractive. Aerial photos immediately caught the imagination of viewers and could work in favor of the business. This was especially true of real estate business. The  Old aerial photos could give a clear idea of the area or a plot to a client.

Conservation of environment had long become everybody’s concern now. Experts were enabled by aerial photos to assess the area in question, the damages that they had been subjected to by man-made disasters or by natural calamities. Strife-torn areas could be monitored by aircraft circling above and the ground situation could be accurately filmed from the sky.  The job of a location hunter for movie production was made considerably easy by deciding the location based on the aerial photos.

The aestheticism of an artistic event that is designed to bring in a large number of visitors could be enhanced by the use of aerial photos. The photos themselves could sometimes be the subject of the artistic project

Capturing Beauty From High Above; Old Aerial Photos..!

Talking of natural beauty, the first set of things that strike our minds are of hills, open lands, mountains, forests and anything close to nature. But there exists a whole another dimension where the beauty of nature stands out. And this dimension is the sky. And in regard we are talking of aerial photographs. Something which only a few get to experience, the adventure in looking at the natural beauty of Mother Earth from up above is truly breath-taking.

Aerial photographs are seen to have that natural touch of the earth looking totally natural, with minute man-made structure; one can actually feel how profound the planet is and the only home to the human race. Looking down upon this beauty gives one so much of a grave and profound feeling that it is beyond the scope of words to describe. But the aerial photos taken from this dimension really tells a different story, a story few get to realize in life. The look and feel of our planet from that height is indeed an once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. And the pictures reveal this.

If we get to look at old aerial photos, one can discover the feeling and the joy the photographer was experiencing when that was shoot. Things in life are indeed worth discovering. Aerial photos reveal the true identity of mother earth, the land masses and the blue oceans, all look so peaceful in the old aerial photos. And this kind of feeling is all captured in an aerial photo. Nature has always been fascination mankind and this purity looked at from up above adds a whole new spark to the feeling; a special something, that make the aerial photos out of the lot and having much deeper association and meaning. Nature and its memories capture in photographs are beyond the scope of mere words to describe…