Posted on January 26, 2016
These days the best aerial photographers are the ones who are posting photos of familiar locations from never before seen angles, as well as photos from completely new locations that have been hard to reach before we had drones.
If you’re like me, you’re always looking for a new angle and location to shoot at and share with the world. But if you’re like me you also don’t have time to travel all around, flying your drone in a bunch of random spots, taking a chance on a location being a bust. So I wanted to share with you a tool that I love that will help you find awesome drone photography locations.
This is the one tool that has been essential to my photography toolkit.
This free and powerful tool for scouting new aerial locations is Google Earth. Google Earth essentially allows you to fly anywhere on Earth by using stitched together satellite imagery. These satellite images allow you to view maps from all around the world, and include images of terrain, streets, buildings and even views of space!
With Google Earth a photographer can quickly look at and pan all around a location and then zoom in to get up close to determine whether or not a location is worth photographing.
Before I shoot a location that I am not familiar with, I always open up Google Earth so I can get a better idea of what the location will look like, not just from the air, but also on the ground.
Google Earth gives you the power to plan out your shoots, helping you to be better informed of the area so you maximize your shooting time.
This is helpful for many reasons. For starters, Google Earth takes the guesswork out of what to expect when arriving at a location. By zooming in on Google Earth you can quickly figure out where a road leads or connects to another road, where you should park (as long as the location is fairly well-traveled), and if there’s a tree line, fence, building, wall or private property near by.
When scouting places to shoot, I like to look for any interesting patterns, lines and landmarks that I could show from a unique angle. Then I like to look for an area that is free and clear of people and obstacles so that I can fly in peace and remain focused on flying my drone. Let me give you one specific example from a location I found using Google Earth.
Awhile back I came across this really cool photo taken inside of a cave that was connected to a beach. This cave was unique because it had a huge circular opening at the top.
This was a location I had never seen before but knew I wanted to immediately capture it from above with my drone. I didn’t know where this cave was but I decided to do some detective work using Google Earth.
The first thing I had to figure out was where this cave was. After some searching I figured out that it was in San Diego, CA but I didn’t know exactly where in San Diego. Because I’m somewhat familiar with the area, I took a guess and typed in the name of the area I thought it might be in and just started scrolling along the San Diego coast.
I scrolled around to see if I could find a view of a rocky cliff with an opening on the coast. Sure enough, a few moments later I discovered a huge circular opening in a cliff area along the shore and I knew I hit the jackpot.
First I panned and tilted around the location for a bit to get myself familiar with the area. I then entered into “Street View” mode so I could figure out if there was any place to park my car.
Once I learned all that I could about the location, I headed out and explored my newfound discovery. My shoot at this location ended up being really smooth and fairly quick because I already figured out the angles I wanted to capture thanks to my pre-production planning.
Another awesome thing about Google Earth is that it has a photo mode that will populate any area with photographs that have been geo-tagged and then uploaded on the web (this service is powered by Panoramio which is another super helpful resource).
While Google Street view provides views taken only from areas that a car can travel, viewing in photo mode is super helpful because it can give you a really good on the ground view of what a location looks like.
Lastly, whenever I am visiting a new city or town, I always scan over the area using Google Earth to see if there are any interesting patterns, lines, designs or landmarks that are close by.
Thanks to Google Earth I’ve found a lot of really cool places that I would have never known about. That is how I found this awesome roundabout:
So that’s my favorite pre-production tip. Using Google Earth to scout interesting locations to better inform you and help you plan your aerial shoots.
- Download Google Earth for Mac or PC
- Download Goole Earth for your smartphone
- Lots of free Google Earth tutorials
If you don’t have the ability to download Google Earth on your Mac or PC or you don’t have a smart phone that is compatible with the Google Earth app then just use Google Maps and switch the viewing mode to satellite view, which will give you basically the same features minus some of the Google Earth bells and whistles.
If this tip was helpful to you could you let me know? Also if you have any pre-production tips that you would like to share with the #fromwhereidrone community then please leave a comment below!
Great post! I have done the same thing, and oddly enough, even shot at that same Sunset Cliffs location. Keep up the great work.
Oh awesome! I’ll have to go back through your feed to see what you captured. Thanks Daniel!
Haven’t actually posted that shot yet, but will soon. :)
This is a fantastic idea that I have never thought of before, thanks for sharing it!
Happy to hear that Josh! Thanks a lot!
I do the same, works so well!
It’s a great trick!
One thing that somebody needs to figure out is how to adjust the focal in Google Earth so that it could match your drone camera focal.
Have you ever tried it?
No I haven’t but that would be super cool!
This is great information. I currently use my drone for real estate photography, but I’m always looking for better ways to use it in my personal life. Thank you
So glad to hear that! Thanks Michael!
Pingback: 5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Flying | UAV Coach
Pingback: 6 Must-Have Apps for Drone Pilots
Great article Dirk !!!
Your way of finding spots to fly your drone is very smart, i like it because you don’t have to waste your time walking around looking for places
you just scout for the best locations and you go for it.
We will be sharing this awesome guide on our Twitter if that’s ok with you :)
Big thanks guys! And yes, I always appreciate when people share a post. Thanks so much for the support!
Sweet post! Where is that roundabout located? Would love to go check it out
Great article. Google Earth is really a life saver when it comes to finding locations. Especially if you have a deadline to meet. And by using this technique, you can find some places that aren’t used for shooting on a daily basis by others like yourself. It’s a great way to do something original.
Hey Len, stoked to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m pretty excited to try this out. Such a simple idea but I would have never thought about it. This will definitely save me a bit of time and money.
Pingback: How To Create Interactive 360˚ Aerial Panoramas Using A Drone
wow..nice tips..keep it up
this was an awesome post, definitely gonna start following and added myself into the email system too! @mikewilltakeyouto
Pingback: Top 10 Drones for Photography: Updated for 2017 – Drone Newz
Pingback: Behind the Scenes— Drone Travel Photography in Turks & Caicos – Drone Newz
Pingback: Nice Awesome Drone Pictures photos | Quadcopter Drone with HD Camera
Some great ideas I plan to use in my business.. thanks
http://dronesolutionsofsouthflorida.com
Here’s a location map based online Q&A at http://LocaLoqa.com/@Drone-Pilots for all drone flyers/photographers to ask questions and help out each other by answering, sharing, and discussing.
Pingback: Just got a new drone? Here is my guide to everything you need to know to get started! – Castle in the Sky
A french website: http://dronespot.fr give some dronespots
Pingback: 5 North American Ecotourist Destinations to Beat the Heat - Our Blog
Pingback: 3 Quick Tips to Help You Take Better Drone Photos and Videos | Photo Valley
Pingback: HOW TO USE DRONES: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE - InFocus Film School
Pingback: 5 North American Ecotourist Destinations to Beat the Heat - Maxim Hygiene Blog | Organic Cotton Femine Hygiene Products
Pingback: Top Tips for Making a Great Drone Video - 3D MULTIMEDIA