I woke up the morning of my 28th birthday last month with one thing on my mind: "What am I going to do today?"
I have always wanted to get an aerial view of my hometown of Lake Tahoe in the summer time, and I was visiting from Arizona. I had also just bought myself a nice new birthday gift: the Nikon D810... so I called up Reno Tahoe Helicopters and made an appointment for a noon flight.
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".
Photographer Vincent Laforet captured some stunning nighttime photographs of New York City while leaning out of an open helicopter door 7,500 feet in the air. At that altitude, Laforet was able to look down at air traffic around NYC's major airports, and there was no extra pane of glass between the photographer and the city. A few thousand feet higher and oxygen masks would have been required.
Update: Initial reports that the 'drones' flew at the helicopter may not be entirely accurate. Click here to read our followup coverage.
Earlier this week, two drones narrowly avoided a collision with a New York Police Department’s helicopter just over the George Washington Bridge. It took aversion maneuvers by the quick-thinking helicopter pilot to ensure no collision took place. But just because there wasn’t any critical harm done doesn’t mean the individuals behind the reckless drones are getting off free.
Update on 12/16/21: This video has been removed by its creator.
Portland-based aerial photography company Skyris Imaging found themselves in an awkward situation earlier this week when a not-fully-clothed woman was startled by a camera drone hovering outside of her 26th-floor apartment in Seattle and, naturally, called the police.
There are two sides to every story, but in the case of Ohio copy machine repairman and aerial videography hobbyist Kele Stanley, his side is drastically different from that of the police who arrested him for flying his camera drone over the site of a car crash.
Earlier this month, storm Petra battered parts of the French and British coast only days after another storm had smashed its way through the area. And while powerful winds and massive waves were tearing into the French coast, photographer Philip Plisson was in a helicopter capturing the action from a bird's eye view.
Flipping through the pages of National Geographic might give aspiring shooters the impression that the magazine's photographers never run into issues. Many years of experience and incredible talent combine for a seamless photo experience where accidents never happen, right? Not really...
Colorful images of beach bum-packed shores are probably the best way to describe West Hollywood-based Gray Malin's collection, dubbed "À La Plage, À La Piscine" (translates to At the Beach, Pool).
Aerial cameras based around RC helicopters are becoming widely used these days for all kinds of photographic and video-related purposes, but here's one use that we've never seen before. An RC helicopter camera was recently used to both deliver an engagement ring and capture the proposal as it went down.
If you ever try your hand at shooting photos or videos from the sky using a remote-controlled helicopter, do your best to avoid trees, tall buildings, and... statues. Ohio-based cameraman Terry Cline found out the dangers of statues the hard way this past weekend. While capturing aerial imagery, Cline got his flying camera stuck in the arms of a statue 100 feet above the ground.
If you've ever watched the evening news on television, you've probably seen photos and video captured by the powerful cameras on the station's helicopter. Here's something interesting: on a clear night, the long reach of the helicopter's camera can actually snap a clear photograph of the planet Saturn!
The photograph above was captured by Chopper 6, the news helicopter operated by Philadelphia's 6ABC Action News.
Last week Anthony Jacobs of Perspective Aerials reached out to tell me that he had become the first person to fly a Canon 1D C with a drone rig. The 1D C is a camera I have a very mixed relationship with, but when you see the way someone like Anthony puts it to work you can only imagine what the 1D C's ability to capture 4K in such a small package could make possible.
Photographer Bryan Soderlind recently did a photo shoot with his buddy, professional wakeboarder Rusty Malinoski (the first person to ever land a 1080 in competition). Instead of the usual setup photographers use for wakeboarding photography, the two decided to try something crazier: lighting the action from the air using a battery-powered strobe placed in a helicopter.
Everyone seems to be talking about the cover photo of this week’s issue of …
Here's an old-ish video that's been making the rounds again lately (viral videos are like viruses -- they don't go away very easily). Titled "Camera shutter speed synchronized with helicopter blade frequency," it shows what can happen when your camera is synchronized with the RPM of a helicopter's rotor blades. The resulting footage makes the helicopter look as though it's just floating in the air!
We're getting to the point at which photographers can buy fancy aerial drones without having to sell a kidney. You've probably already seen photos and videos shot from camera-equipped radio-controlled helicopters before, but did you know that the camera's view can be beamed to a pair of goggles, allowing the photographer to be immersed in a first-person-view of what he or she is shooting?
Destin of Smarter Every Day recently shot some light-painting photographs using an RC helicopter loaded with colored lights. The maneuverability of the helicopter turns the great outdoors into a giant canvas on which you can light paint giant 3D shapes.
Aerial photographer Stephan Zirwes shoots amazing images of patterns and repetition seen in landscapes while looking straight down from a helicopter. From his perspective, things like cars, shipping containers, and people blend together into abstract designs.
Check out this incredible 360-degree video by northStudio360, titled "The Nimmo Bay Experience". They attached the camera(s) to the bottom of a helicopter, and flew through some incredibly beautiful landscapes. Simply click and drag to move the camera's direction.
You’ve probably seen videos showing the rolling shutter effect turning airplane …