50 reasons to hire a professional drone company
Higher, further, safer; better quality, flexibility, equipment; more skills, permissions, team members. The commercial drone market is getting saturated. Here are 50 reasons to stick with the pros.
1) Helping the industry thrive
Let’s say there are three kinds of drone pilots.
The hobbyists who love a pretty picture, some wild aerobatics, or a nifty aerial selfie. Sometimes, these are fully-trained commercial pilots who’re chilling out on the weekend, snapping some new landscapes to frame for the office.
The commercial pilots who have done the proper training, know the laws like the backs of their hands, and respect the drone code as if their lives depend on it (which, really, they may very well do). Sometimes, these are hobbyists who have gone on to learn the ropes, earn the certification, and turn their passion into the day job or a side-hustle.
The hobbyists who got asked by a mate to take a bird’s-eye view of their pub for a couple of pints, and decided they’d start charging people for aerial visuals at 25% the price offered by the pros. Without the proper training, licensing, or safety precautions.
Excuse our bluntness.
It would be all-too easy to throw your hands up and accept that most industries naturally gravitate towards lower prices (and often reduced value) over time. In recent years, though, professional freelancers and small businesses have pushed back. Collective confidence in promoting heightened quality and premium fees over merely ‘getting the job done on the cheap’ has grown. It’s a reassuring shift that’s helping drone service providers as much as it is any ‘gig economy’ worker.
Long story short: hiring drone pros halts the potential decline of the perceived value of drone services. That’s the first reason to work with teams like us. Now, onto the other 49 reasons…
2) Decentralising the drone directories
Another ‘way things are’ inevitability we can reject. In the fight for a monopoly, some web directories which list qualified pilots from across the UK are undercutting average industry pricing while increasing the cuts they take for referred jobs and decreasing the personal value offered to each user.
This, too, degrades the value of the drone industry.
There’s very little that these directories can offer which small business owners can’t achieve themselves with a website, a social media presence, memberships in a few free Facebook Groups, and a little bit of ad budget. Hiring a pro directly empowers them to invest in the necessary marketing talent.
3) Bigger and better drones
Commercial drones can cost anything from £1,000 to £100,000.
Pilots with costlier cutting-edge equipment can deliver higher-quality photos and videos, fly in more challenging environments, and fulfil more complex shot lists.
4) Smaller (but better) drones
We also know that bigger isn’t always better. Indoor drone surveys often call for tiny UAVs which can slip into tiny crevices, and many film and TV productions require the rollercoaster aerobatics that small FPV ‘whoops’ are renowned for.
5) Better drone cameras
The body of the drone is nothing without a good lens. A few years back, every aerial photo was fairly mind-blowing, but now, your overhead visuals need cinema-quality cameras to stand out — and a pro who knows how to use them. This is another hefty cost you mightn’t have considered. The full Zenmuse X7 range, for example, bears a price tag well into the thousands.
Higher-end lenses can capture more angles at different focal lengths with finer levels of detail. To put it poetically: you want to work with someone who treats the drone less like a drone, and more like a camera.
6) Cinema-ready video codecs
The body *and* the lens are all for nought without the advanced file formats to take full advantage of them. This is one of the ‘invisible’ costs many of our clients are most surprised by: licenses for video codecs. Two leading standards (particularly for DJI drones) are Adobe CinemaDNG and Apple ProRes.
Buying into these ecosystems unlocks god-tier video quality: up to 6K at 30fps (frames per second). All in a RAW format which captures details in the darkest shadows and brightest highlights, and records colour as unfiltered data. Full freedom to craft the ‘look’ of a video.
This is the stuff that makes your jaw drop in the cinema and stops you in your tracks when you see huge 4K TVs playing breathtaking showreels in the supermarket.
The cost of a CinemaDNG + ProRes license? Around £1,500.
7) Next-level photo quality
Still photos also look stunning with these top-of-the-line lenses shooting at relentlessly high resolutions. A pro pilot (and their cinematographers) will also know how to extract pictures from CinemaDNG/ProRes footage. 4K / 8K + 30fps = most video frames being viable for use as images.
8) Next-next-level photo quality (panoramas)
A drone photo that’s thousands of pixels wide gives you the opportunity to crop in on a specific part of a picture for any number of reasons. For aerial roof inspections, it affords millimetres-accurate survey visuals. For marketing, that freedom to adjust the crop for varied media is invaluable.
So how about photos that are tens of thousands of pixels wide?
A pro who can capture aerial panoramas will provide you with the most flexible aerial visuals possible. Zoom out for the bigger picture. Zoom in for a subject-focused crop. Cut to square and vertical shapes for social media. Trim to any size you wish for huge wall displays. Get the sharpest surveying shots imaginable.
The possibilities are endless — particularly with HDR panoramas, which capture the darkest shadows and most blown-out highlights of every photo for a richer spectrum of colour between black and white across the stitched-together result.
9) Into the archives
Storage space, on the other hand, is not endless.
A 30-minute video recorded on an iPhone will come in at around 5–10GB. A video half that length — just 15 minutes — shot at 4K/5.2K/6K 30fps Apple ProRes will fill a 500GB hard drive.
Recording that much data at a continuous speed way up in the air calls for even more specialist hardware. The drives we use with our DJI Inspire 2, for example, cost between £600 and £800 each.
Shooting two hours of footage every day for a year will fill up 50 terabytes of storage space. Back at base, a pro drone service provider will have stable archive system for everything they’ve ever shot. And then they’ll have secure backups for the archive, too. All organised, tagged, and accessible in seconds.
You deserve the peace of mind that, a) the work you paid for doesn’t get lost and, b) you can commission new edits from the drone company of your choosing quickly and efficiently.
10) Through the cloud
A strong Internet infrastructure is also essential for drone businesses, for the fast transfer of photos, videos, and data to clients. We often turn around stills on a same-day basis, and, for data-driven work like surveying and mapping, information can be packaged and sent before the drone even lands.
11) Longer-lasting flights
Yet another drone-related cost that’s sometimes overlooked: the batteries! For the DJI Inspire 3, they’re £200 each, and are sold in pairs.
So, batteries for a 25-minute flight are £400. And they only last for 100 cycles!
Pro pilots will come equipped with a whole stack of batteries for each shoot — thousands of pounds’ worth. And then there’s the charging case: another £1,500. Plus the electricity bill!
All this power = all-day flying. Dawn-to-dusk coverage of events, lengthy time-lapses, large-scale mapping and survey projects, and more.
Discounted drone services rarely offer the reliability of multiple batteries and specialist storage. Working with a crew who can quickly swap out power sources and drives between flights is imperative for avoiding missed shots, closing weather windows, and rising production costs.
12) The takeoff essentials
We could dedicate this entire list solely to equipment, but we’ll just touch on one last bit of kit: the basics needed to create a controlled takeoff and landing area. Cordoning off a secure zone with cones, high-visibility tape, signage, etc. will keep members of the public a safe (and legal) distance away.
Most pros we know always have their takeoff gear handy! Setups might also include landing pads (for uneven terrain) and camping lights (for nighttime shoots).
13) On-location public relations
When passers-by see a group of people wearing high-res vests in the middle of a large sealed-off circle, it’s like moths to a flame! And we love their enthusiasm every time. But a distracted pilot can be a dangerous pilot. For shoots in spots where crowds are likely, pro crews often assign a team member the role of speaking to the public, answering their questions, and handing out marketing collateral like flyers and brochures.
By working with a pro, you won’t have to worry about the flights becoming unsafe — and you can also give the drone team’s PR person some spiel to share with the public!
14) Eyes on the sky
Another key member of a professional drone company’s on-location crew: the spotter. Sometimes called a Visual Observer (VO), they’re a second pair of eyes, assisting the pilot with maintaining a line of sight with the drone, and alerting them to airborne hazards (like aggressive flocks of seagulls).
15) Eyes on the prize
Then there’s the cinematographer, who has a second controller (often similar to the pilot’s one) for maneuvering the drone’s camera. As we said earlier: you want to work with someone who treats the drone less like a drone, and more like a camera — and that’s where the cinematographer comes in.
They take charge of everything from zoom, focus, white balance, exposure, and the turning/pitching/yawing of the camera. Pro teams will be able to communicate effectively, with the pilot and the cinematographer constantly (and clearly) instructing one another of their next move. It’s a bit of a dance.
Hobbyists offering commercial services often won’t have a cinematographer by their side, so they’ll be controlling the drone and its camera at the same time. This often results in fairly one-dimensional footage, full of shaky pans and distractingly abrupt movements.
16) The cutting room
Professional aerial service providers should either have an in-house editing team, or a firm working relationship with a video production partner they can confidently outsource work to. In our experience, the only clients who take on the editing themselves are TV and film studios.
Working with an experienced drone business won’t leave you wondering what to do next with your new imagery or data. The pros will either offer you a package for editing videos/photos and processing surveys/maps, or provide a trusted recommendation for a third party who can work with you on these next stages.
17) Strategy and storytelling
“We’ll fix it in the edit” isn’t always the answer! Whether or not a drone service provider is taking on post-production work in-house, they should consult their client about the core purpose of every shoot before a date is set. For example: preliminary discussions can touch on scripts, storyboards, and shot lists for commercial projects (e.g. promotional videos), or area perimeters, workflow integration, and construction timelines for surveys and mapping. Pre- and post-production should be approached with a unified focus.
A common problem that arises with aerial photography: drone crews not communicating with ground teams effectively. The visuals captured by both might be some of the most beautiful footage or sharpest inspection imagery ever shot, but if they don’t work together seamlessly (e.g. there are ‘narrative gaps’ not covered by either) they’re only 50% as useful.
Professionals will clarify your vision, check that every aspect of each shoot serves the desired end product, and work with others to minimise friction between stages of production.
18) Frictionless formatting
Flawed communication doesn’t just degrade the artistic or practical strengths of drone photography; it can also cause expensive compatibility issues.
We do a lot of work with companies whose computer systems often aren’t built to handle 4K video, let alone 5.2K or 8K files. By auditing each client’s tech infrastructure, digital literacy, and preferred software during pre-production, we’re able to deliver visuals and data in a format they can work with.
When non-professionals skip these key steps, you inherit the costly, time-consuming process of converting unoptimised files and information into the usable assets you paid for.
19) On-site communication
There are infinite possible team configurations for drone shoots. Perhaps the pilot is taking off from a rooftop, with a cinematographer and a spotter beside them and a couple of other spotters at ground level. Keeping a constant channel of communication open between everyone is essential for: a) creativity, b) safety, and c) general updates (e.g. a spotter notifying a pilot that the subject of a shoot starts moving).
At Solent Sky Services, we use earpieces to stay in touch, so we know where to point the camera, how to position crew members, and when to land prematurely if emergencies arise.
Hobbyists typically fly solo, but even when they do assemble a team, they’re rarely equipped with the comms gear that affords them the freedom to split up. ‘Dividing and conquering’ brings invaluable flexibility, security, and efficiency to commercial drone projects.
20) When emergencies arise
A drone that’s intelligent enough to never crash into people or properties during an emergency landing is the ultimate dream, but — similar to how cars with autopilot systems still need a human driver behind the wheel — drones should always have a trained pilot who can take manual control when things go south.
Unless we all start getting legally-mandated smartphone notifications for nearby flights, drone service providers should be prepared to arrange the announcements, signage, and instructions necessary to ensure all members of the public in the area are aware of the pilot’s emergency procedures.
Crashing your first small drone in a quiet forest while flying as a hobbyist can be something to laugh about! But replace the tree with a human, and there’s a potential manslaughter charge.
21) Insured into the millions
The long and short of it is: drones are small flying machines, and there’s a lot that can go wrong with them. Insurance is a must. At the time of writing, Solent Sky Services is insured up to £5million — and we’ll keep upping that safety net as we continue to grow. We very regularly increase to £10million on a per-project basis.
Uninsured pilots might turn heads with their affordability, but there’s a good chance those lower rates are built on a shaky risk-riddled foundation. Hobbyists are also less likely to have the experience that would prompt them to get insurance — even more riskier. Don’t let drone work fall on crossed fingers.
22) Serious about safety
At the intersection of pre-production work, on-site team comms, and drone insurance assurances, there’s the meticulous planning process every pro runs through. Risk assessments, protective clothing, and detailed flight maps are some of the measures we take to make every project as safe as possible.
Again: drones are flying machines which can become incredibly dangerous if precautionary corners are cut. A non-pro who skips the legal basics for standard go-up-and-come-down jobs certainly won’t give much thought to properly planning specialist flights which introduce added layers of complexity and risk.
23) The recce
Planning can sometimes be conducted remotely, with architectural blueprints, footfall data, and topography maps giving us everything we need to plot our flights. But a professional will recognise when this information doesn’t suffice, and they’ll book a site visit (recce) before picking a date for the flights.
Recces aren’t just for the drone crew, though; they’re the perfect opportunity for you to learn how commercial flight operations work, if you’ve yet to experience one. No half-baked plans ‘on the day of’ here — drone pros will always champion a thorough, detail-rich approach!
24) Flight changes on the fly
Sometimes, all that planning will go out of the window as soon as the drone company you’ve hired arrives on site (regardless of whether a recce visit took place). Prior planning helps avoid such hurdles 90% of the time, but there are all kinds of circumstances that can change at the last minute.
A professional drone service provider will have contingency plans in place for many unforeseeable challenges. Example: a roof survey is no longer viable due to the surrounding area becoming too congested. We’d switch over to a camera mounted on a mastpole. A different method, but the same quality results!
25) CAA-approved Permissions for Commercial Operations (PfCO)
At the halfway point of our list, it’s about time we brought up the biggest difference between drone pros and drone hobbyists: legal permissions to fly for commercial purposes! In the UK, the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) will grant someone PfCO (Permission for Commercial Operation) once they’ve completed a certified course, obtained the necessary insurance, submitted an operations manual (a document which details how they’ll work as a commercial pilot), and finished up a number of other important steps.
Only PfCO holders can lawfully get paid for work which involves flying drones. Legal implications aside, a hobbyist without PfCO won’t have the same training, knowledge, or experience as a qualified pilot and their team. In a way, PfCO is a mark of quality, or a badge of trustworthiness!
Drone pros can also request special permissions known as…
26) Operating Safety Cases (OSCs)
At the time of writing, a standard commercial authorisation certification in Britain allows a pilot to fly up to 50 metres away from people, properties, and vehicles in congested areas, with a minimum cordoned takeoff and landing area of 30 metres. A congested area is, in simple terms, any built-up spot in which there are too many individuals, cars, and buildings to realistically control. In such areas, finding a 30 metre takeoff circle can be tricky.
An OSC will empower a pilot to take off in a tighter spot, so aerial work can be carried out in bustling metropolises like London and New York. Only a drone pro will know how to write up an OSC application, and have the experience and clean flight record to back up their request!
27) Not abusing the qualifications
We’ve heard about a small handful of pilots who have gotten a little bit ahead of themselves with their Operational Authorisation, OSCs, and other commercial drone qualifications, claiming they’re permitted to fly in areas (or at distances) which they’re definitely not supposed to.
This can be tricky for clients to judge, as it comes from pilots who are clearly very professional in every other respect! Ask them to show you their certifications from the Civil Aviation Authority. If they’re at all reluctant to do so, be wary.
28) The cost of qualifications
Some of our first points on this list addressed the hefty hardware, software, and licensing costs that every drone pro pays. Permissions for commercial operations don’t come too cheaply, either! The initial process mounts up to thousands of pounds, and has to be renewed every year. OSCs and other specialist qualifications are no different.
When you choose to work with drone pros over hobbyists, you’re helping diminish dismissive attitudes towards regulations that are in place to protect people; you’re supporting the legal protections of the public against dangerous misuse of drones.
In other words: you’re the best.
29) There’s an app for that
All of these qualifications and contingencies would be useless without to-the-minute data to inform important operational decisions. Drone professionals will be familiar with a toolkit of apps which help discern whether flights can go ahead safely.
Some of these apps focus on the more obvious variables, like weather conditions. Others are more oriented towards specialist aviation data, such as NOTAMs. A NOTAM (‘NOTice to AirMen’) is a message issued via an aviation authority to alert any airborne object — planes, helicopters, drones, etc. — of other aerial activity, anywhere in the world.
Being able to read and submit NOTAMs is one of the vital skills drone pros bring to the table.
30) No-go drone zones
Equally as important is being aware of protected airspace. There are obvious no-fly zones a pilot needs special permissions for, like airports, and plenty of not-so-evident spots to avoid. Ministry of Defence sites, for example — they’re not always very conspicuous. A hobbyist who has no idea how to check for protected airspace could end up flying over high-security properties. By working with a drone pro, you’ll avoid these legal breaches.
31) Locked (but not so much loaded)
Thankfully, most modern industry-standard drone models will automatically stop and lock when they hit the invisible wall of protected airspace. It’s a great fail-safe, but no pilot should use it as an excuse to justify irresponsible or ill-informed flying.
Attempting to fly through secure airspace can also have long-term consequences for a pilot (regardless of whether they were conscious of their breach). Hypothetically, even if an unaware hobbyist could apply for an OSC, a track record marred by unlawful flight paths would inevitably lead to rejection.
32) Weathering Flights
Operational authorisations and OSCs are secured. Detailed plans, risk assessments, and all other key documentation is in place. Everything is clear for a safe, legal, professional-grade flight — but then a storm rolls over the horizon.
While some drones can operate perfectly well in adverse weather conditions, clients probably won’t want rainy photos for their marketing content or hazy fogs obscuring survey imagery.
Your drone pro should have a plan in place for when ‘acts of god’ make flights unviable.
At Solent Sky Services, we simply rebook to another date at no additional cost. An inexperienced pilot might not have even considered a ‘bad weather’ contingency until the day of the shoot.
33) The other kind of forecast
A drone flight typically lasts between 20 and 30 minutes. That’s the same amount of time it takes for the drone industry to go through some sort of dramatic revolutionary change nowadays!
Drone pros keep their fingers on the pulse; we’re always aware of fresh tech, changing laws, and smart new ways to work with hardware and software.
Drone legislation is always changing, drone pros ensure they’re up to date at all times.
As for hardware, you’ll have likely seen tethered drone systems by now: those huge clusters of hundreds of LED-lit drones, all working in tandem to ‘draw’ shapes, words, and even 3D models in the sky.
You want a drone service provider who’ll always help you stay one step ahead.
34) A bird’s-eye view, just for you
Many of these points are technically ‘bare minimum’ requirements by law. A quality drone service provider will want to go above and beyond to make the on-site experience as interesting as possible for you. One way we do this: setting up a standalone screen for clients to see the drone’s perspective in real-time.
This also has the added benefit of empowering clients to offer feedback between flights (while we’re changing batteries, switching disks, etc.) so we can align our vision even more closely with theirs. No more peeking over the pilot’s shoulder — you get your own front-row seat!
35) Flying indoors
As we mentioned earlier, indoor drone surveys require knowledge of smaller drones and how to fly them within tight crevices. Or perhaps a client needs a crew to capture an event within a larger indoor space, so the focus shifts from agility to safety and discretion. A pro drone team will know how to adapt flight plans to all kinds of interiors, getting the money shot without putting people or properties at risk.
36) Not flying indoors: the overhead cable alternative
We previously noted our use of cameras mounted on telescopic mastpoles in situations where drones aren’t a safe or legal option. There’s also a third option which many pros — ourselves included! — offer. Cameras mounted on overhead cables.
We can disconnect the propeller blades from our DJI Inspire 2, affix the body of the drone to wires running from one specially-designed stand to another, and use the rotor engines to send the drone back and forth while a camera operator manoeuvres the lens as if it were a standard flight.
No risk of the drone veering off course and striking walls or injuring people. No loud buzzing sound to bring events to a distracted standstill. Just a simple alternative solution that delivers the exact same cutting-edge video and photo quality.
37) Permissions for private property
Thousands of hobbyists around the world fly where they shouldn’t be flying every single day. Sometimes, they just aren’t aware of the rules. Other times, they know exactly what they’re doing, but just don’t care. Cheap consumer drones have become a dime a dozen, so policing illegal flights gets trickier by the hour.
Many drones are now programmed to stop at the edge of airspace that has been registered as private, but not every property owner will be savvy enough to publish these boundaries.
Drone pros were once quite outspoken against rule-breakers, but it feels like a futile effort nowadays. We’ve mostly changed tack to celebrating lawful flights rather than condemning the naughty ones. Better to focus on the positives.
By working with professionals, you’ll have the peace of mind that all appropriate permissions will be sought at the flight planning stage. No legal repercussions. No PR disasters. No property owners running out and demanding the flight be stopped.
Drone pros will also be much more familiar with how to acquire those permissions; either they’ll already have the right contacts to call at the tap of a button, or they’ll have access to a concise directory of decision-makers.
38) Permissions for flying at sea
Of all the corners we see cut by untrained pilots, this is one of the shortcuts that concerns us the most. We’re headquartered in Portsmouth, an island city with one of the busiest ports in the UK. Hundreds of commercial vessels and naval/marine craft come and go every day.
An unregistered drone flying over an aircraft carrier with no prior notice could be identified as a terrorist threat without hesitation. Zero tolerance. It’ll be scrambled or shot down.
Trained drone service providers will be aware of the ever-evolving restrictions around flying near ports, harbours, and ships, and will have experience in chartering RIBs out to sea if a project can’t be completed from the shoreline.
Many (though this is perhaps a bit more niche) will also be experienced in the special complexities of operating near wind farms, oil rigs, and other offshore structures.
Years ago, when we first contacted our local Queen's Harbour Master, they were overwhelmingly thankful that a pilot was contacting them to seek proper approval. Unpermitted flights cause them a lot of problems.
39) The unique challenges of flying at sea
You might be aware that many drones have a ‘return to home’ feature — they intelligently return to the spot they took off from. When you’re floating in a boat out at sea, that takeoff spot will change as the boat drifts. The drone would return to home and go straight into the drink!
This is just one of many unique considerations only professional drone crews will know to plan for. There are also a number of special skills that are necessary for flights at sea, including hand-catching and hand-launching drones from rocky RIBs, or dealing with flocks of curious dive-bombing seagulls.
40) Ticking the boxes for the media
Publications are becoming increasingly cautious about the aerial visuals they feature. Editorial guidelines will eventually enforce hard and fast rules about ensuring drone photos and videos are from legitimate, legal sources. This might also be governed by stock image sites to some degree.
You don’t want to invest in aerial visuals that the media won’t publish! Showing that you’ve worked with a reputable drone service provider will be a big green flag on your PR campaigns.
41) Behind-the-scenes content
Anyone who works in social media marketing will know the feeling of hearing about an exciting photoshoot happening somewhere in the company, only to wind up with nothing to post across social channels ‘on the day of’. It’s especially disappointing when the shoot has been arranged to shoot content that’s not destined for social media use (e.g. footage for televised broadcast, or videos for internal comms).
Every time we fly, we try to find opportunities to capture some form of behind-the-scenes visuals. Sometimes, our ground photography crew will snap pictures of us working. Other times, we’ll use gaps in our shooting schedule to create 360º aerial panoramas — incredibly captivating, particularly for Facebook.
This ‘second viewpoint’ approach can lead to some great reciprocal sharing on professional networks like LinkedIn, either through internal groups or public pages.
Work with a drone service provider who goes that extra mile.
42) Getting 360ºs and interiors on Google Maps
The best pro drone teams will shoot with the end destination in mind — the places where the aerial visuals they capture for you will actually appear. One of these places is Google Maps, where photos and videos can help strengthen organic off-site SEO, so your business is more eye-catching and inviting.
Professional drone companies who offer 360º photography as a service will also likely advise you on how to upload the specially-formatted imagery to Google Street View. Great for high street shops and restaurants, and very engaging for estate agents, offshore engineering firms, and car/yacht retailers.
43) End-to-end marketing solutions
These past few points — keeping the media happy with above-board drone visuals, capturing behind-the-scenes content, and shooting with an awareness of how pictures and footage will actually be used — all help ensure the work you’re commissioning aligns with your digital marketing strategies, pipelines, and sales funnels.
The tighter the working relationship between the pilot creating the content and the marketers integrating it into their campaigns, the stronger the results.
Pro drone businesses often have in-house marketing teams or trusted partners who’ll adapt drone visuals into social-ready aspect ratios, compressed formats for web (e.g. WebP), and widely-compatible video standards (like HTML5).
Drone businesses that don’t should naturally, at the very least, be keen to work with marketing teams to understand their vision.
44) Editorial use of drone photography
One more thing drone pros will often be conscious of while shooting: editorial space. Aerial photos look incredible in print, especially when they’re accompanied by strong typography and compelling stories. But snapping drone pictures is an art unto itself.
A lot of aerial snaps are simply too busy. Drones are — by design — always very far away from their subjects. It takes skill to compose drone photos which deliver the same artistic qualities and visual appeal as pictures taken on the ground with a stylish 50mm lens.
If a client informs us that the content we’re capturing is headed to print, we’ll dedicate several hours to shooting photos which work for portrait layouts, landscape layouts, full-bleed double-page spreads, half-page crops, and just about any other kind of layout in a magazine, newspaper, or book.
45) Years-long shoots (time-lapses)
Traditionally, time-lapse cameras that are set up to document lengthy construction builds, footpath data, etc. will mostly be left to their own devices, with check-ups every other month. Drone time-lapses aren’t quite so independent! In the next few years, drones will be able to live in a charging box and occasionally pop out to photograph their surroundings at set intervals. Until then, you’ll want to hire a pro to regularly come and shoot fresh frames for the stockpile.
Then, at the end of the project, a pro drone team will assemble the years-long succession of shoots into the finished product, adjusting every picture so they all line up perfectly.
46) The ground crew
Drone businesses which also offer a high standard of ground photography are becoming increasingly common. You could hire the aerial crew and the ground team separately, but working with an agency that offers both saves a lot of time and money. The integration also helps maintain a unified creative vision.
47) On-set experience (film/TV production)
A hobbyist may fare well with a simple ‘take-off, fly static, land’ job in a calm countryside location with nobody around for miles; put them on a film set with a staff of hundreds, however, and the breakneck speed of broadcast production will likely overwhelm them!
Most filmmaking-focused pro drone teams have on-set experience, which is, of course, vital for avoiding costly interruptions to production timelines — doubly important, though, is a professional pilot’s knowledge of how to keep larger teams of people safe and under their legal control and/or coverage.
And it goes without saying that film and TV productions call for cutting-edge drones carrying cinema-quality cameras and lenses!
48) On-site experience (construction/property work)
Similarly, a qualified drone service provider should be the only port of call for aerial surveying, mapping, and photography on construction sites and above other development projects. High-resolution visuals and adherence to the drone code are expected here, too, but specialist apps and tools are often required.
For a 3D mapping job (creating a three-dimensional, scalable, printable render of a property, or a topographical visualisation of a piece of land), a pilot will have to shoot over 1,000 images at least, so they’ll need a good number of batteries, millimetre-accurate optics, and software like DroneDeploy.
Again, experience is the most valuable asset a pro drone team will bring to the table: knowledge of appropriate PPE, a meticulously-planned emergency landing protocol, confidence in instructing on-site personnel about scheduled flights, and the ability to conduct thorough site recces.
All skills your construction and development projects deserve.
49) A long-term working relationship
A professional drone business is far more likely to be in it for the long haul. Building trust with a regular service provider takes the stress and uncertainty out of every stage of commissioning drone work. Knowing you can always pick up the phone and hear a familiar and eager voice is invaluable.
It can also reflect rather well on you! Being aware of and in touch with pro drone teams shows experience in bringing modern technology and solutions to projects and industries that are long overdue a shake-up of their processes and methodologies.
Before long, everyone will need a drone pilot on speed dial — so make sure you’re working with one you can count on.
50) Drones are the future
Blink and you’ll miss it. Commercial drone services are among the fastest-evolving industries in the world, and there’s no denying that aerial systems will be used by thousands of companies for hundreds of wildly different applications in the very near future. Now is the time to consider how drones fit into your company’s workflow, for everything from marketing and filmmaking to surveying and mapping. Contact a pro and start exploring the commercial solutions of the future.
