So I opened a maps website with 360 panoramic images and saw views like this:

https://imgur.com/a/kydKOQB

Sunrise, shadows and fog. Just some aerostat took a photo and it’s beautiful. But I very rarely see aerial photos! There are so many landscape photographers, but they all shoot from their perspective. So why isn’t aerial photography as popular?

  • Z107202@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    Accessibility.

    1. Price - An entry level drone is still expensive.
    2. Laws and Regulations - For example: In the US, you can’t fly above 400 ft of the tallest structure, within a 400 foot radius of that structure. The drone must be within visual line of sight. FPV is a major no-no without another person watching the drone, etc. These laws are ALWAYS changing. Add in the local ordinances and the problem multiplies. You could be complaint federally, but not locally or vice versa. By the time you’re comfortable with them, something major changed. Some drones can’t be flown anymore without remote id. Commercial work requires a license, with its own set of rules. Getting waivers, especially early on to simply fly 1 foot in the air in a controlled airspace like class D, is a months long process with immense planning required to do anything. Most of the US is in controlled airspace, even in the sparsely populated midwest states. This means, you need to get authorization to fly. You can’t fly in most national parks without a waiver, national and local government permissions, etc. The ones you can fly in, require a whole different process.etc etc etc. Basically, it’s too much of a hassle.

    On the creative side:

    1. All aerial shots with drones are almost always generic garbage. If you’ve seen one, you seen them all, save a few exceptions. They are “epic” wide shots that showcase the general area, almost exclusively a plains area of a small town with lots of hills, because you can’t fly in a large city.