Real Estate Drone Photography

Real estate agents understand the importance of the well-worn adage “location, location, location.” Drone photography can add an extra dimension to commercial properties that is not possible through traditional camera lenses.

But drones require skill and practice to operate safely. It’s best to hire a professional rather than try it yourself.

Aerial Photography

real estate drone photography is a subset of aerial photos that captures high-resolution images from portable air devices, also known as drones. This form of real estate photography allows for unique perspectives that would be impossible to get with a traditional camera.

As such, it can be used to highlight a property’s most important features. For example, a drone can be used to showcase a home’s skyline, waterfront view, or even its proximity to popular attractions and landmarks. This can help buyers envision themselves living in the home and highlighting the lifestyle it offers.

Drones are also great for showing the condition of a property’s exterior. For instance, a new roof can be easily shown using drone photography. This can help reassure buyers that the home they’re buying is in good condition.

Real estate drone photography is a useful marketing tool for any real estate agent looking to stand out from the competition. It’s especially effective for properties that are located in unique locations, like waterfront homes or those with extensive landscaping. It can also be used to create virtual tours, which give potential buyers the opportunity to explore a property at their own pace from the comfort of their home. This is an increasingly popular feature for online real estate listings, and it can be a great way to attract tech-savvy buyers.

360-Degree Photography

Most real estate photographers utilize high dynamic range, or HDR, photography to enhance interior shots and balance contrast outdoors. When combined with drones, this technique can create incredibly stunning images from above.

Unlike traditional still photography, 360-degree photos capture an entire image from multiple angles and perspectives simultaneously. They are a great way to showcase a property and offer potential clients the opportunity to see a home from every angle.

When taking a drone photo, you want to keep in mind compositional guidelines when framing your subject. For example, triangles are a powerful compositional shape that can be used to highlight areas of interest or group multiple points of interest together. Another compositional guideline is to use diagonal lines, which add visual tension and lead the eye to the focal point.

Drones can also be used to take aerial panoramas, which are images that combine several frames into one. They are a popular tool for real estate professionals because they can show potential clients the full scope of the property and provide them with an immersive experience.

Aerial panoramas require some practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can create some truly breathtaking images. When using a drone to capture a panoramic shot, make sure the drone is in a stable position and that there isn’t too much movement in the gimbal. This can cause ghosting, which is an area of darkening in the middle of an image. Luckily, there are tools available to correct this problem, such as the automatic ghosting correction feature in Photomatix.

Aerial Video

For the real estate industry, drone video offers a unique perspective that captures the beauty and scope of properties in a way that still photos can’t. For example, if a property has a large backyard with a pool or is surrounded by mountains, a video can help home buyers imagine what it would be like to live there.

In addition to the property itself, aerial videos can also showcase the surrounding neighborhood, nearby amenities, and natural landscapes to give potential buyers a complete picture of the location. This is particularly important for luxury homes, as showcasing the area is a way to help buyers envision themselves living there.

One great technique is to use a slow reveal leading into a flyover of the property. This type of shot starts wide and slowly moves closer to the point of interest, highlighting the landscape around it. It’s also a good idea to keep in mind composition guidelines when shooting aerial videos for real estate. The rule of thirds, for example, proposes that a photo should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts made of two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines. A good way to practice this is by looking for natural lines, such as roads, and aligning them with the grid on your screen.

Drones can also be used to shoot videos of driveways and other entrance ways to a property, helping potential buyers get an idea of what it will be like to drive up to the house. This is particularly helpful for properties with winding or wooded driveways, which can be challenging to photograph with a traditional camera.

Aerial Tours

Real estate drone photography offers a variety of unique perspectives to capture properties and their surrounding landscapes. This makes it possible to showcase features that standard photography can’t. The result is an effective marketing tool that can quickly sell a listing to potential buyers.

Aerial tours are another form of real estate drone photography that is growing in popularity. They allow realtors to highlight a property and its outdoor selling features in a single video that can be shared online. This can save time by eliminating the need to take multiple photos of a home’s exterior. It also gives buyers a feel for the size of a property by showing how far it stretches and what the neighborhood looks like from above.

In this example of aerial drone photography, the realtor is able to clearly communicate the features that make the backyard of this home unique. The birds-eye view shows the large trees, greenery, and pool that give this property its character. The edits of editorial information further enhance the selling features of this backyard and make it easy for potential buyers to imagine themselves living in the space.

When creating drone footage to showcase a property, it is important to follow composition guidelines. One of the most popular is the rule of thirds. This rule states that images should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts using two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines. By lining up the subject of the photo with these grid lines, real estate drone photographers can achieve balanced and appealing compositions.