A ground photographer can frame around a trash can. From two hundred feet everything on the property is in the picture, and the two surfaces nobody thinks about, the roof and the yard, take up most of the frame.
The night before
- Move every vehicle off the driveway and out of the street directly in front. This one matters more than the rest of the list combined
- Bins away and out of sight from above, not tucked beside the garage
- Coil and stow the hoses, and put pool floats, toys and equipment away
- Clear the patio and the deck down to the furniture that is meant to be there
- If there is a boat, either clean it and leave it or move it. A half-covered boat reads badly from the air
The morning of
- Skim the pool and run the vacuum early enough for the surface to settle
- Cut the grass one or two days before rather than that morning, because fresh clippings and mower lines both show
- Wet the driveway and the walkway if they are stained, which reads as clean concrete from altitude
- Open umbrellas, straighten the furniture, put the cushions out
- Retract awnings unless they are a selling feature
For a twilight shoot
Twilight frames live or die on interior light. Twenty minutes before sunset, turn on every lamp in every room facing the camera side, plus the pool light and the landscape lighting. Turn off anything that will read as a hot spot, which usually means a bare garage bulb or a security floodlight pointed at the lens.
Things we cannot see from a map
- Gate codes, and a phone number somebody will answer during the shoot window
- Dogs. They do not need handling for the flight, but we do want to know before we walk into a yard
- Neighbors worth a heads-up. A courtesy note prevents most of the friction a drone ever causes
- Anything active on site, whether that is a crew, a delivery or a party. Sometimes it is fine and sometimes it decides the hour
What we handle
Airspace authorization, insurance, the flight plan and the weather call are ours. If the address sits under controlled airspace, and most of Broward and Miami-Dade does, that filing is already done before we pull into the driveway. It is why we ask for the address early.
Common questions
Do I need to be there during the shoot?
Not usually, as long as we have access and a number to reach. Plenty of our listing shoots happen with nobody on site.
What happens if the weather is bad?
We reschedule. Booking two days before your deadline leaves room for exactly one weather move without any drama.
Should I tell my neighbors?
It costs nothing and it prevents almost every awkward conversation a drone shoot can produce.
This piece supports two pages worth reading next:
Leyyah directs the look of Papa's Aerial deliverables - what gets shot, how it is graded, and what a client actually receives at the end of a job.
