How to Prepare a Property for an Aerial Shoot

A ground photographer sees what a buyer sees from the kerb. We see what a buyer would see from the neighbour's roof with binoculars, and then higher. That changes what preparation means.

This is the list we send agents and sellers before a listing flight. Half of it is about what to move. The other half is about who has to be where, which is a legal question rather than a styling one.

What shows from 200 feet that does not show from the street

The roof is the biggest surface in every aerial frame. It is also the surface nobody has looked at since the house was built. Expect the camera to find:

• Roof debris. Branches, leaves in the valleys, a frisbee, the swamp cooler cover that blew off in July. Also staining below the cooler and around penetrations, which is honest and stays.
• Tarps. A blue tarp on a roof or over a woodpile is the brightest thing in a desert frame. It will be the first thing a buyer sees.
• Vehicles and trailers. Everything parked on the property is in the picture: the project truck, the horse trailer, the RV, the boat under the carport. From the kerb a fence hides them. From the air nothing does.
• Trash, burn barrels, scrap, pallets. Rural properties accumulate a yard behind the barn. It is in frame.
• Pool covers and pool colour. A covered pool reads as a grey rectangle. An uncovered green one reads as a problem.
• Dead lawn, bare patches, the dog run. Turf that looks acceptable at eye level looks patchy at 200 feet because you are seeing all of it at once.
• The neighbour's boneyard. The 40 derelict cars next door were never your problem from the kerb. They share the frame now.

Be honest about which category each item falls into. Vehicles, trailers, tarps, trash and roof debris can be moved in a morning and should be. A dead lawn in August is a dead lawn; we are not going to paint it green. The neighbour's yard cannot be moved and should not be hidden — but it can be shot around. Camera position, altitude and direction of approach all change how much of the adjoining parcel is in frame, and a framing that favours the subject is ordinary photography. Cropping out a power line that crosses the property is misrepresentation, and we will not do it; more on that below.

Timing

Light. The sun should be on the face of the house that matters. For a house that faces east, that is morning. For a house that faces west, afternoon. South-facing works most of the day; north-facing is the hard one and we will talk about it when we book. Overhead sun at midday flattens everything and we avoid it where the schedule allows.

Irrigation off the night before. Wet ground photographs dark from the air and looks like a drainage problem. Dry gravel and dry turf read correctly. Turn the drip and the sprinklers off the evening before and leave them off until we have left.

Livestock and dogs. Horses and cattle vary. Some ignore the aircraft, some do not, and we have no interest in finding out which at the expense of your fence. Pen them away from the area being flown, or tell us where they are. Dogs should be inside; a dog that chases the drone is a hazard to itself and ends the flight.

Gates unlocked, nobody on the roof. We need to drive in and reach every launch position. If a roofer or a solar installer is scheduled that day, move one of us.

Wind. Spring afternoons in Cochise County are frequently unflyable. If we ask to move the time to early morning, that is why, and a window of two or three days gets you the best light of the best day.

Who has to be where, and why

This is the part of preparation that is a federal rule rather than a preference.

In practice: during the flight, everyone goes inside the house or stands well clear of the area being flown. Inside counts as a covered structure. Standing in the driveway watching does not. A standard listing shoot is 15 to 30 minutes of actual flying, so this is not a hardship, but it is not negotiable.

The neighbours. We fly from the listed property and we keep the aircraft over it wherever the framing allows. Some oblique shots mean the camera is pointed across a fence line; that is different from parking the aircraft over the neighbour's back garden, which we do not do. If a neighbour is close and likely to notice, it is worth a word from the seller the day before. Part 107 does not ask us to obtain a neighbour's permission, and good practice does not ask us to surprise them.

Roads. Under 14 CFR 107.145 sustained flight over people in moving vehicles is prohibited outside the Subpart D categories. A property fronting a highway or a busy county road will be shot from the property side, with the road in frame but the aircraft not over it. If the perfect shot requires hovering over Highway 191, the perfect shot does not exist.

What you get, and when

Files are delivered MLS-ready in 24 to 48 hours, in horizontal and vertical crops so the same shoot works for the listing and for social. Aerial Essentials is 10 to 12 edited stills for $175; Aerial Photo + Video adds a 60 to 90 second cut for $325; the full breakdown is on the pricing page. If you need the files the next morning, say so when you book — that is a rush at +30%, and it is better arranged in advance than discovered at 5 p.m.

What we will not do

Three things, stated here so nobody has to ask on the day.

Fly in Sierra Vista's Class D without authorisation. Under 14 CFR 107.41 operating in Class B, C or D airspace requires prior authorisation from air traffic control. For an address in Sierra Vista or near Fort Huachuca we apply for it before we book, and if the grid ceiling or the lead time does not allow the shot you want on the day you want, we say so. We do not launch and hope. The same applies to Tucson's Class C.

Fly over a highway for a shot. Covered above. The road stays in frame; the aircraft stays over the property.

Stage a frame that misrepresents the property. We will choose a flattering angle, a flattering hour and a clean foreground. We will not remove a power line, a transmission tower, a neighbouring structure, a wash that floods, or the road, from a photograph presented as a photograph. Article 12 of the NAR Code of Ethics binds the agent to present a true picture in advertising and marketing; we are the people who made the picture, and we would rather it be true. Sky replacement is in the same category, which is why twilight is shot at the real hour rather than painted on.

The day-before checklist

1. Vehicles, trailers, boats and equipment moved off the property or into a closed garage or barn.
2. Tarps down, roof debris cleared, trash and scrap removed from view.
3. Pool uncovered and clear; patio furniture set as it would be for a showing.
4. Irrigation off from the evening before.
5. Livestock penned away from the flight area; dogs inside.
6. Gates unlocked or codes sent; no contractors on the roof.
7. Everyone on site ready to go indoors for the 15 to 30 minutes of flying.
8. A word to the near neighbours.

That list is most of the difference between an aerial set that sells the property and one that documents the seller's moving day. If you are choosing a pilot for the first time, how to hire one in Arizona covers the certificate and insurance questions; the real estate service page covers what the packages include. Book with a two- or three-day window if you can, and tell us which way the house faces.