The desk-based research isn’t only about reading pieces for information from tables, facts, figures, and graphs, but it is also about visualizing those pieces of information. Aerial photography or aerial system is a lot useful in many sectors, including landscape archeology, human geography, and climate science. Interpreting aerial photography shot using an aerial camera system is easy, and undergraduates in geography and archeology study them during their first year of the degree.
Aerial Photography And Its Functioning
Aerial photography is the process of snapping photographs from the air. However, there is a lot more to this type of photography than simply utilizing a helicopter or light aircraft and flying to click pictures. There are several elements to the aerial survey that should be considered to make sure that the data is sufficiently useful to understand whatever is being investigated.
Generally, seeing landscape elements on the ground is difficult, features can be missed, and something that seems like an unnoticeable bump from the ground level can seem magnificent in a wider context. Aerial photographs shot using the aerial system are also useful to map and study landscape types, which are mostly tough to access on foot.
Aerial photography has been used for landscape studies specifically in archaelogy, and the researchers have learned a lot about the world because of it. Due to GIS or geographic information systems, its applications have widened even more.
Types Of Aerial Photography
Aerial photographs are shot in 2 basic forms, which have different applications and uses – vertical and oblique.
Oblique
The images are generally taken at an angle, usually 45-degrees, but, they can be any angle when they are clicked manually. This way, they give the best view of a landscape or feature. The oblique image is mainly used to take a broader context of the feature and its surrounding area, and also provide depth. It is generally taken at a lower elevation than vertical image and in lesser numbers. Its application is also limited and it is usually taken for a particular purpose. This is because there is an issue in perspective because the far is the feature, the smaller it seems to be.
For taking oblique photographs, winter is considered as the right season. This is because it is simpler to see the features in fields that are not lined with crops as well as won’t be plowed for some more months. Due to shallower levels of soil, surviving features under the surface will show up darker. Frosty and snowy conditions aptly emphasize features and ridges and they can be shot with distinct clarity. However, longer hours of light and warmer months are not suitable for aerial photography.
Vertical
Clicking a picture straight down over the landscape is a more familiar type of aerial photography. This is a plain shot so there isn’t any perspective for distortion of the image. This means that it is tough to read lay of the land like changes in height. However, there is work involved in forming the 3D image via stereoscopic views, utilizing a device to inspect two at once. This generally gives a great impression of the changes in the land’s elevation. They are measured at uniform heights for consistency, which makes it simpler to compare the contexts of landscape taken on same day, or several years apart to determine development. They are, however, rarely used in the archeological applications except sometimes to find striking earthworks as well as other sites that are otherwise missed on the ground because they focus on topography instead of specific details and cover a wider area.
As a rule, vertical photographs are easier to understand than oblique ones because of standardized ways in which those photographs are captured, with set scales as well as at one non-arbitrary angle. Vertical and oblique aerial photography have same advantages but you will lack perspective, the 3D effect, and the depth, even with weather conditions mentioned above. You may even miss soil and crop marks at higher levels. However, if you require an overview, then vertical aerial photography is suitable.
The Takeaway
Aerial photography can be done with an aerial camera system or aerial system. It is useful for a variety of purposes like archeology, studying topography, comparing changes in the landscape, etc.
