Aerial Photography - Aerial Video - Oblique - Vertical

Indianapolis skyline © 2005 Above All Photography, Ltd.

Aerial Photography - Aerial Video - Architectural ( Exterior & Interior)

Above All Photography uses the best equipment in combination with talented photographers to get the highest quality photos possible. We offer more traditional oblique aerial photography by both helicopter and airplane. The helicopter can legally get lower and closer, which are necessary for some applications; however, the airplane can usually handle 80% of the jobs.

We have a true aerial survey camera that requires the 22” diameter hole in the belly of our Cessna 206. This camera assures accurate vertical photography (called a planimetric view or “spot shot”) that is capable of capturing 6” pixel resolution with good clarity. Mapping larger areas is accomplished by shooting a series of vertical images with uniform overlap for mosaicking with georectifying or orthorectifying. Precision aerial mapping requires using special GPS navigation equipment.

Aerial video photography at a professional level is an expertise requiring completely different equipment and editing production skills. Above All Photography has made the investment in broadcast HD camera equipment, the K-12 "Kenyon Laboratories" gyro stabilizers thanks to Aerial Exposures, Inc. in NY, and video software training on location by Adobe Systems.

Graphic design - Video Editing/Post-Production - Printing - Lamination - Mounting

In order to enhance the visual impact of our aerial photography products for our clients, Above All Photography has experts trained in graphic design. In the case of routine still photography, we can simply add site labels and road signs or overlay artistic renderings of structures over photographs. Custom brochures are also possible.

With regard to video production at Above All, we have the expertise to produce a final video with both graphics and music. Most of the broadcast quality HD video we capture is for professional video production clients who hire us to shoot aerial video for their editing and production needs. We simply capture the video in one of many formats and deliver it to them. Producing "rock solid" Aerial video is difficult because of the constant movement of the helicopter or airplane. Above All Photography, as far as we know, provides the only stabilized aerial broadcast quality HD video in the Midwest. We shoot out of the rear (door is off) of the Robinson R-44 helicopter. Our mount is tailored to shoot out the left and right sides of the helicopter, but we can only shoot video out the right side of the airplane.

We can also laminate prints with several different lamination surfaces including “dry-erase”, which is becoming more popular for presentations. Above All has a 60” mounting machine that assures perfect mounting of prints.

More Information about Services and Service Areas

Above All Photography was created with the idea of becoming the best aerial photography service provider of aerial images.

We serve the commercial real estate industry, residential and commercial developers, shopping mall developers, retail centers, attorneys, engineers, construction industry, architects, and those who need stock photography.

Why do Above All's clients choose us? Because we get the job done, done well, and on time! We have the right equipment, the right team of talent, and will go out of our way to deliver exactly what is needed. Several reasons for our success are attributed to having our own pilots and airplanes thus being able to take advantage of good weather when it is not forecast. Being located in the Midwest is always a challenge for this reason. We are prepared to go several directions at the same time which is especially good when we have large multi-state assignments with multiple sites requiring both aerial and ground shots. There are only a few aerial photography companies that can service a hundred or two hundred sites within a month. The benefits to the client who is marketing a multi-site property is consistency, a known quality level, and dealing with only one photography company. Above All Photography routinely accepts assignments covering twenty or thirty states.

Do we always fly every site in these situations? Not always. However, the advantage to our client for us subcontracting a site out to another aerial photographer is that they deal with only one company who is responsible for the quality, timeliness, and consistency of the entire project.

Video Projects and Video Service Areas

We take aerial video assignments around the Midwest for professional video production houses that need to supplement their client's video presentations with aerial footage. Aerial footage has a number of purposes such as showing an overall picture of the area to lead into movie or simply show a city skyline.

Our more traditional clients can have other uses such as showing a short video of a specific piece of real estate and the surrounding area with graphics and demographics with their sales message. They can either send a DVD to a prospect or stream the video over the web.

One client has had Above All Photography shoot video in Austin, TX and Louisville, KY of the views that prospective tenants would see from different floors of a high rise building.

Another civil engineering company has us shoot aerial video of interstate interchanges that need to be redesigned and updated for DOT use. They take our aerial video footage and import it into a 3D animation program where they add the proposed new designs complete with moving traffic. The purpose of this is to have a realistic moving model of the new road system to illustrate at hearings and meeting what the impact will be to the local property owners affected in addition to the city and state governments.

A utility company has Above All shoot aerial video footage in counties where they are promoting economic development to showcase the area. They send the videos to companies all over the world to attract them to move to their areas.

A major Hollywood producer hired Above All to shoot the aerial video portion of “The World Figure Eight Championship” stock car race in September 2008 for a feature movie starring Jessie James that they are releasing in February 2009. That involved over five hours of continuous “Broadcast HD video” from our regular R-44 helicopter. This was definitely our biggest challenge since buying our broadcast HD video system. The Hollywood producer was impressed that Above All Photography had a Panasonic HDX-900 camera because it was the same as what they were using to cover the ground and tower angles. This live event was shot from one hour before dark to 11:45PM.

Another night Broadcast HD shot was for the Indianapolis Colts showing the new Lucas Oil Stadium with its roof opened during the grand opening.

Another video production studio had Above All video a golf course community in the Chicago, IL area to promote all the amenities of the area.

A video producer in Columbus, OH had us shoot aerial video for a corporate promotional video and a future commercial of a roofing company project on the tallest building in Columbus, OH. One sequence was a choreographed sequence by about 20 employees on the top of the downtown skyscraper.

We recently shot an hour of Broadcast HD Stock Aerial Video over Chicago, IL showing the Chicago Skyline, including footage of Miegs Field (that is no longer an airport), Navy Pier, Soldier Field, McCormick Place, Sears Tower, and the museums.

Other broadcast HD stock aerial video that we have shot during the past year includes roads, buildings, business parks, skyline shots, state fairs at night, college campuses, oil refineries, steel mills, industrial parks, airports, shopping centers, construction of a huge warehouse, Dayton, OH, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, and many other video scenes.

Another application for aerial video we are doing for an engineering firm is shooting before and after footage for their marketing and promotional uses.

One last thing we can do for clients is simply shoot a lot of random video of corporate campuses, housing areas that may be at risk during storms or floods, and finally, potential homeland security targets that may want to have video documentation in the event of a problem.