How to Take Drone Photos Without a Drone

Method #3: A 30-foot-tall selfie stick

Photo Illustration: Save As/ Medium Photo Source: Getty Images

I love flying drones that are so cheap that I don’t have to care if I crash them. But if you want to fly a drone for any commercial purpose — like taking nature photos, news reporting, real estate photography, or event photos — things get much more complex and expensive. Professional drones can cost upwards of $2,000, and if you don’t obtain the proper license, registration, and insurance, you could end up with a $250,000 fine — or even land in jail. There are also tons of places where drone use is banned, and some people think they’re creepy.

If you need aerial photos but don’t want to deal with the hassle and expense of a drone, what can you do? I’m a professional photographer, and I’ve developed something of a reputation for taking drone-like aerial photos without using drones. I do it with some tech-enabled location scouting, creative use of airplanes, and a 30-foot-tall selfie stick with a GoPro at the top.

Here are my techniques.

Tall buildings or parking garages

The easiest way to get an aerial photo is to go up a tall building. But not just any building will do. Ideally, you want a building with unobstructed views, where you can get roof access. It’s possible to shoot great photos through a window, but it’s much better if you can find a building with an exposed roof or balcony from which to shoot, so you don’t have to deal with distortions from glass (or worry that window washers haven’t visited recently).

Buildings with formal observation decks can be great for amateur photographers. But the challenge for pros is that at most well-known observation decks, the good photos have been taken already. There are tens of thousands of photos taken from the top of the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower. If a pro takes one more from the same vantage point, it’s unlikely to sell.

Instead, I like to find buildings with exposed roofs where I can easily get access but where other photographers haven’t been yet. In this quest, rooftop bars and restaurants are your friend. Search Yelp for restaurants with rooftop dining, and then browse through visitor photos to find one with an exposed seating area or observation deck…