Start to finish
A brief, a flight, an edit, and images inside 48 hours
On the day
What happens on the day
- Step 1
The brief
What the images are for, a listing, a venue's website, a campaign, decides which angles matter and whether video is worth booking alongside the stills.
- Step 2
The check before the visit
The address gets checked for airspace restrictions and a lawful take off point before the date is confirmed. Aerodrome zones, restricted airspace and sites with nowhere sensible to launch from all exist, and finding out about them on the morning helps nobody.
- Step 3
Timing for light
Where the brief calls for a particular look, golden hour, flat overcast for even detail, a specific season, the flight is scheduled around it rather than fitted in whenever suits the diary.
- Step 4
The flight
A planned set of passes covering the agreed angles. Half an hour for a single property, longer for a venue, a development site or an event with several vantage points.
- Step 5
The screen check
Before packing up, the footage gets reviewed on site. If a shot is unclear or an angle was missed, it gets reflown there and then rather than discovered back at the desk two days later.
- Step 6
The edit
Frames selected from the flight, graded, cropped and, where video was booked, cut to a usable clip. This is the part that takes the time and it is the part you are actually paying for.
The report
What lands in your inbox
A shortlist, not the whole card
The strongest frames from the flight, selected rather than handed over as a folder of near-identical shots to sort through yourself.
Full resolution stills
Graded and cropped at the camera's full 100 megapixel resolution, so a detail can be cropped in hard without the image falling apart.
Video, where booked
Cut to a usable length, ready for a website or a social campaign rather than a long uncut clip.
A licence for your own use
Covering a listing, a brochure, a website or a campaign, so there is no separate rights conversation before the images can go live.
Sized for print and for web
Delivered in formats that work in both without you needing to resize or re-export anything before use.
A note on anything not shot
If weather, access or timing meant an agreed angle could not be captured, the delivery says so rather than quietly leaving a gap.
Why 48 hours
Because that is how long a proper edit takes when it is done frame by frame rather than rushed. If a shoot is tied to a listing launch, a print deadline or a campaign date, say so when you book and it gets scheduled around it.
Weather and rules
The bits that decide whether a flight happens
Light
Light is most of the image. Flat, hazy conditions wash colour and contrast out of a shot that is meant to sell a place, and hard midday sun throws shadows that hide exactly the detail a brief wants shown. Timing gets planned around what the shoot actually needs.
Wind
Above roughly 20 miles an hour the aircraft is working hard enough that image stability suffers, and gusts around buildings or trees are worse than the forecast suggests. A shoot flown in marginal wind produces marginal images, so it moves instead.
Rain
Water on the lens ruins the frame outright. A shoot flown in or straight after heavy rain also tends to look duller than the same scene a day later, so timing after a wet spell matters as much as avoiding rain itself.
Airspace
Some addresses sit inside a flight restriction zone around an aerodrome or under other restricted airspace. That is checked before booking. Where permission is needed it gets sought, and where a flight cannot happen at all you are told before you have paid anything.
People and crowds
The A2 Certificate of Competency allows closer operation near uninvolved people than the basic category, which is what makes event and venue work possible. The flight is still planned specifically around where people are on the day.
Rescheduling
Moving a shoot for weather or light is normal and costs nothing. It happens most winters and it is better than delivering images nobody can actually use.
Before you book
Common questions
- What is actually included in a shoot?
- A flight covering everything agreed in advance, then editing: colour grading, cropping and selecting the strongest frames from the shoot. You get the finished, licensed images rather than the raw files off the memory card.
- Do you shoot stills, video or both?
- Both, usually from the same flight. The Mavic 4 Pro shoots 100 megapixel stills and 6K video without changing aircraft, so a booking can cover a set of photographs and a short video piece together.
- Can I use the images for anything I like?
- The licence covers your own use of the images: listings, brochures, a campaign, a website, print. If you want to license them on to someone else, or use them somewhere unusual, say so when you book and it gets agreed up front.
- How long does a shoot take on site?
- Typically half an hour to an hour, depending on how much ground needs covering and how many angles are wanted. A single property is quick. A venue, a development site or an event with several vantage points takes longer.
- What if the weather turns?
- The flight moves. Flat light and rain on the lens both ruin a shoot, so a booking flown in bad conditions is not worth having. Rescheduling for weather costs nothing and is treated as normal.
- Can you shoot at golden hour or a specific time?
- Yes, and it usually makes a real difference to a listing or marketing shot. Tell us the time you want when you book and the flight gets planned around it, weather allowing.
- How quickly do I get the images back?
- Within 48 hours of the flight, edited and ready to use. If there is a deadline, an exchange date, a campaign launch, a print date, say so when you book and it gets scheduled around it.
- How much does a shoot cost?
- It is a fixed price per shoot, agreed before the visit, based on what you need photographed and where. Send the details and you get the figure back rather than a range.
See what is included
Get a quote with Aerial Photography Exeter
Tell us what you need photographed, where and when. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next available slot.