HOW TO SHOOT AERIAL REAL ESTATE PHOTOGRAPHY WITH A DRONE
Introduction To Real Estate Drone Photography
Getting those high-quality aerial shots of your property can be a crucial factor when it comes to selling your listing to prospective buyers. However, real estate aerial photography can be daunting at a glance, especially if you’ve never flown a drone before! In this article, our founder, Brad Filliponi, is going to show you how easy it can be. You will learn the key tips on how to operate a drone and obtain professional images using aerial photography.
Shooting With Your Drone
In this tutorial, we are using the DJI Phantom 4 professional drone to demonstrate the power of aerial shots. When taking off, always be cautious of power lines and trees as these hazards can be disastrous if you accidently fly your drone into them. When taking the shot, try to remove yourself from the photo so you don’t have to do it later in post. You can always hide underneath some tree foliage to achieve this. Keep your settings in auto, that way you can capture your images without having the hassle of changing settings
Note: Don’t worry too much about the weather as this can be edited using the image enhancement service.
Shooting The Birds Eye View
To create the bird's eye view, hover your drone directly above the desired area. Don’t worry about surrounding items, these can be removed by using our item removal service (as shown later in this tutorial).
Shooting The Aerial View
Don’t forget to take an aerial shot so you can easily identify schools, airports etc. that often aren’t visible. In this example, the property is so close to the ocean and a major shopping
Editing Your Drone Images
Create duplicate images of your original drone photos and use a program like paint to draw on edits and mark item removals required. Include measurements and outline the area on your bird's eye view. This will make it stand out in the image.
For your aerial shot, make sure you note the nearby attractions so we know exactly you require the drop pins.
By providing these duplicate images, it gives our editors a clear understanding of what edits you require to your job. Now you are ready to jump over to our BoxBrownie and submit your images to be edited.
Lodging Your Job
Once you have logged into your account, click on “Aerial Editing” and follow the instructions below.
- Give your job a title for easy reference.
- When uploading images, include your originals along with the duplicate images you have made edits on.
- Click the link underneath your uploads to group your original and duplicate images.
- Select the
birds eye images and group them and apply the same to the aerial images.
Once you have completed this step, your original and duplicate image will save as one. This means, you only get charged for the one image.
For the
- Select Single Lot Highlight from the Aerial Editing drop down box.
- Select the relevant item removal option from the drop down box if you require items from your image to be removed. Please note that a car is identified as a large item so you will need to select the large item option.
- You can then specify in the special instructions box the items that need to be removed and any other relevant information.
For the aerial image:
- Select the preferred Drop Pin option to highlight key attractions in the area
- Select Image Enhancement if required. This feature is ideal for those images taken in less than ideal weather conditions.
Once done, click next and make sure to revise your edits before submitting your job to ensure all requirements are listed. When you’re finished, click submit and you’re done. We then take care of the rest by turning your images from drab to fab in 24 hours.
Conclusion
Aerial photography is a great tool for any real estate agent looking to advance their marketing. Hopefully, this tutorial gives you the confidence to take aerial real estate photography with a drone and use it to present your listing in the best possible way to your potential buyers.
Please note: If you are using a drone in the United States for commercial purposes, you require a FAA Part 107 certification and your drone must be registered.
RELATED ARTICLES

Love the idea of a virtual property tour but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on expensive equipment or waste hours on the photoshoot? In this tutorial, we take you through our brand new 360° Virtual Tour service and look at how it can revolutionize your property marketing.
READ MORE
Here is the BoxBrownie.com guide to 360° photography including camera and equipment recommendations. Read on for how to get started, and easily become a 360° photography guru.
READ MORE
Smartphone cameras are getting really good these days… but can they take photos good enough for real estate photography? Well, what better way to put it to the test than by shooting a $4.2 million dollar commercial property with a smartphone!
READ MORE
Throughout this blog, we are going to let you in on a fantastic real estate photography hack... the iPhone 11's new wide-angle lens! This latest technology will allow real estate agents and property managers to shoot wide on their phones just like a DSLR camera with a wide-angle lens.
READ MORE
As you make your New Year’s resolutions, hit refresh on your property photography skills by resolving to not let common errors hold back the potential of your property listings. Explore our blog to discover frequently occurring photo blunders and learn how to fix them for stunning results.
READ MORE
If you think quality, professional real estate images aren’t in your budget – think again! For under $20 you can beautifully showcase a property that will boost listing inquiries and your brand. How? Just follow our how-to guide.
READ MORE