birdseye

‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop’ is sometimes considered to be one of the earliest films ever produced when it was released on June 15th, 1878. Twenty-four photographs of a horse and its jockey were played rapidly in succession, creating the illusion of motion when viewed through an old-time zoopraxiscope.

Since then, filmmakers have broken out their creativity and established a number of essential shots for depicting emotion through a lens. Today, we are taking a look at a number of these typical cinematic camera shots and angles to learn how they could be incorporated into still photography.

After camera drones started taking off -- both literally and figuratively -- in the photography industry over the past few years, there was a brief window of opportunity for photographers to legally shoot aerial shots at many famous tourist locations around the world before authorities decided to make those spots off limits to drones.

Photographer Amos Chapple spent two years traveling the globe and doing as much drone photography as he could while "staying ahead of local laws against their use."

Just weeks after photographing New York City from 7,500 feet, photographer Vincent Laforet traveled west and captured the city of Las Vegas from an even higher perspective. Shot at almost 9,000 feet, the photos are part of a new series titled "Sin City".

Places like Paris are prime candidates for capturing incredible aerial footage, but where most people would go about this task with a drone (or maybe a replica of the Up! house...) the people at the non-profit FREEDOM took a different approach.

They strapped a Sony Action Cam Mini to the back of a white-tailed eagle named Victor, and let him fly from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower.

Earth can be absolutely beautiful as seen from the ground. But, as wonderful as it is from our point of view, certain scenes just can’t be appreciated unless seen from a bird’s eye view.

It’s this idea that lead satellite imaging company Digital Globe to create Daily Overview, a daily blog that aims to capture the beauty of landscapes and structures as seen from overhead.

There's a growing concern among many in the industry that photography is having a harder and harder time putting food on the table, but that certainly wasn't the case at one London pop-up restaurant last week where patrons were actually allowed to pay in hashtagged Instagram photos.

With Google being the powerhouse that it is, and Google Maps along with it, it's easy to forget that there are other maps out there. It's safe to say that it has been a long time since anyone mentioned the likes of MapQuest or picked Yahoo! Maps instead.

Another search engine/maps provider we don't hear a lot about is Microsoft's Bing, but today the company is announcing the addition of a staggering amount of "bird's eye" imagery to its Maps repertoire.