Photography

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A place to politely discuss the tools, technique and culture of photography.

This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.

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Why isn't aerial photography as popular? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by Eloren1@alien.top to c/photography@viewfinder.pro

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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?

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[–] Twin_Peaks_Townie@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Landscape photography doesn’t really pay the bills like personal photography does. Most photographers put their time and energy into what’s going to get their next paycheck. Drones are used a lot more for mapping and surveying construction projects than for taking beautiful photos. You also need to get Part 107 certification if you want to get paid. That certification requires you to really know your shit and your have to recertify every two years.

On top of that you need to have something interesting to take photos of, and there are lots of restrictions on where you can fly. Because of how many places restrict drones you always feel like you’re doing something wrong. Even when you check your sectional charts and know you’re good to fly in class G airspace you’ll occasionally run into some asshole who wants to harass you because they hate drones. When you post photos online some anonymous troll will leave comments about he they hate drones or will make up rules that don’t exist to try and leave and “akshually…” comment.

When you combine all the things with the skill you need to be able to take and edit photos well, there are significant barriers you have to overcome for something that is really more of a hobby than a job.

I happen to live in a place that you can see the Washington Cascades from my front porch so I have the luxury of always having something interesting to take photos of. Having worked from home for the past few years there has been lots of opportunities to capture some amazing moments, that are weather dependent.

But… sometimes you capture something amazing that (almost) no one else will ever be able to.

https://i.imgur.com/dBo2qip.jpeg