Aerial photography

Aerial picture taking is the making of photographs of the earth from an raised location. The term commonly refers to pictures in which the photographic camera is not based by a ground-based body structure.

Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircraft,helicopters, balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, kites,poles and parachutes.

Aerial picture taking was first used by the French lensman and balloonist Nadar in 1858 over Paris, France. The use of aerial picture taking for military intentions was extended during World War I by airmen such as Fred Zinn. One of the best notable fights was that of Neuve Chapelle.

Aerial picture taking is practiced in mapmaking particularly in photogrammetric reviews, which are frequently the basis for topographical maps, land-use planning, archaeology, film production, environmental studies, surveillance, commercial promoting, conveyancing, and aesthetic projects.

In the United States, aerial photos are applied in numerous Phase I Environmental Site Assessments for property analysis. Aerial pictures are frequently processed by a GIS system.

Improvements in wireless controlled models has made it achievable for model aircraft to take low-altitude aerial picture taking. This has profited real-estate promoting, where commercial and residential attributes are the photographic case. Full-size, manned aircraft are banned from down flights above inhabited locations.Little scale model aircraft provide raised photographic access to these previously sensitive areas. Miniature vehicles do not substitute full size aircraft, as full size aircraft are able of longer flight times, higher altitudes, and better equipment payloads.

Aerial picture taking includes challenges not present in non-aerial photography.Such of these include:

Perspective correction – Aerial pictures are frequently made at an angle to the object being photographed. This means that the view of the photograph will be incorrect with near objects larger than far away objects. Linear Perspective correction distorts the picture so that equal sized objects in the real world have equal size in the photograph.

To make an aerial picture of a extended area, multiple photographs must be taken. Sewing is joining those photographs together so that they form a single large photograph. This process creates "seamless" imaging .

Aerial pictures commonly are mapped out to the real world objects (streets, constructions , etc) being photographed. For example, an aerial picture may be converted into a series of lines based on the roads contained in the photo .