Above All - Ohio | Frequently Asked Questions

Click on any of the questions to jump to the answer.


Why use aerial photography?

  • Market with dramatic and eye-catching photographs
  • Document construction progress
  • Aid in appraisals
  • Show a property and its surroundings
  • Highlight nearby amenities, access roads, etc.
  • Show the size and utilization of public, residential, and retail areas
  • Illustrate development potential
  • Investigative use for accidents, legal cases, and insurance claims
  • Use in annual reports / shareholder communications
  • Decorate your home or office dramatically
  • Much, much more!

Click here for a list of the types of people and companies we do business with...

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What areas do you serve? Where do you fly?

The short answer is that we will literally go anywhere we need to go to get the job done. However, it is not always cost effective for our customers to send us everywhere they need us.

In general, we can provide affordable service within about a 150-mile radius of our "home airport" in Medina, Ohio. Sometimes, we can string together multiple jobs to extend our reach while maintaining our low prices.

Please check out our coverage map to see where we've been and for more information on our photography services at more distant sites.

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I can get free aerials off of the internet. Why do I need you?

Reasons for custom oblique photos:

  • Oblique aerials are often prettier than the straight down images you get off of the internet
  • Obliques show the vertical dimension of buildings and sites
  • More people can relate to an oblique aerial than can relate to a straight down view because obliques offer a more natural perspective
  • You need a beautiful image of a site
  • You need to sell a property

Reasons for custom verticals or mapping:

  • Images from the internet are often outdated
  • Images from the internet are of lower resolution
  • You cannot print high quality, large photomaps from internet images
  • Images from the internet are generally not allowed to be used for commercial purposes
  • You need information about a site
  • You need to locate a property

Other reasons (if you are marketing real estate):

  • Custom aerials can give your site instant credibility (as in, "Wow - they did custom professional aerials - this must be a special site!").
  • Professional aerial photographs can make your site stand out in a crowded market.
  • An aerial view is more likely to show a key selling point (such as nearby highways or railways) that cannot be seen in a ground-based photo.
  • An aerial photo will show at a glance what pages of text will describe. Potential buyers may just skim the text, but they will almost always take time to study an aerial photo.

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We take our own photos. Why do we need you?

  • We use only top-of-the-line professional cameras and lenses which produce razor sharp images and show amazing detail. Today's point and shoot cameras produce great snapshots, but their output will never match the quality of professional equipment.
  • If you are marketing property, a savvy buyer or buyer's agent will recognize the professional photography immediately. This will let them know that you, too, are a professional that cares about what you are selling.
  • If you are documenting construction progress, unbiased third-party photographs from a reputable professional photographer may make the difference when settling disputes, insurance claims, or legal issues when they arise.
  • We back our work and our customers 100%. We will do whatever we can to aid our customers or resolve a dispute, including testifying in court if needed.

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Are custom aerials expensive?

No, but the cost of not having them may be. Even our most expensive job will be a tiny fraction of the selling price of a property or cost of construction. If the aerial photos help sell or lease a property faster or help settle a construction site dispute in minutes rather than days or weeks, the price you paid will be a real bargain.

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How much do aerial photos cost? Why don't you have pricing information on your web site?

Every job is different and a variety of factors go into our pricing. The location of your site, the number of sites you need photographed, the weather conditions and sun angles needed to best show your site(s), the time frame in which you need the photographs delivered, the specific view or style you need, and other factors all determine the price of our service.

In general, though, aerial photography is no different than any other product or service. We think the old saying "Fast. Right. Cheap. Pick TWO." sums everything up nicely.

Basically, what this means is that - again, like virtually every other product or service - the speed of delivery, the quality of service, and the price you will need to pay are all interconnected and it is not possible to simultaneously optimize all three criteria. If you need something right away, you're either going to sacrifice quality or pay a premium. If you just cannot compromise on quality, you will either have to pay a higher price or wait a little longer for delivery. We try to encourage people to plan ahead - if you give us adequate time to get your photos, we will deliver the best possible photos at a very competitive price.

Please note that we can only compromise on quality so far. If you need something today, it just might not be possible for us to do it even if your budget is unlimited. Some days we simply can't fly and sometimes there are locations we simply can't get to due to weather, safety concerns, FAA mandated flight restrictions or other situations.

With all that being said, most of our invoices are in the $400 to $1,500 range for single sites, depending on the exact needs of the client. We do offer discounts when we can photograph multiple sites or photograph one site multiple times (for example, construction progress photography).

Please contact us with your specific requirements and we will provide you with a free, no-obligation quote for our services. We will also be happy to provide you with some options.

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How long will it take to get my photos?

Again, it depends on your exact needs. If you're lucky, you can order in the morning and have your photos delivered in the afternoon.

Of course, you can't count on luck, so here are some very non-scientific guidelines:

  • Spring months usually have 1 day per week that will give you good to great conditions for aerial photography.
  • Spring months will generally have 1 day out of 2 weeks with EXCELLENT conditions.
  • For small sites or close-up views, there are many good days in the spring.
  • Summer months usually have 1 day in 10 that will give you good to great conditions for aerial photos.
  • Summer months may only have 1 day in 20 with EXCELLENT conditions.
  • For small sites or close-up views, there are also many good days in the summer.
  • Fall months can have 2 or even 3 days in the same week that will give you good to great conditions.
  • Fall months may even have 1 or 2 days in the same week with EXCELLENT conditions.
  • Again, for small sites or close-up views, there are usually a lot of good days in the fall.
  • Winter months may only have 1 day in the entire month with good or great conditions.
  • Winter months may have another day during the month that is marginal, but flyable. In other words, if you really have to have photos, we will get them when we can. However, the best photos taken on a marginal day probably aren't going to be the prettiest photos you've ever seen... (We will always let you know what to expect before shooting!)
  • There may be 1 or 2 days over the course of the entire winter that will really have EXCELLENT conditions for photography. (In other words, if you want really beautiful winter images, you may want to give us a call in the fall to to discuss your needs...)
  • For small sites or close-up views, we can usually get satisfactory results on marginal days, but you should never count on it - it's ALWAYS in your best interest to plan ahead!

Using those guidelines, you can probably figure out that the more time we have to plan our flight and acquire your photos, the better the end result will be. As a rule of thumb, try to give us 2 or 3 weeks to get your photos. We can probably get them to you sooner in the spring and fall, but it may take longer to get them in the winter.

With all that being said, it never hurts to give us a call and ask what we can do for you - you might just get lucky!

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Someone came to my door and wanted to sell me an aerial photo of my property. Was that you?

No. Sometimes non-aerial photographers will rent an airplane and photograph many farms or houses in an area. They will then go door-to-door trying to sell them. We only fly after we talk to you and find out exactly what you need.

Our custom flights will typically get you 16-20 photos of your property from many different angles, not just one. Our custom flights are often times less expensive than the speculative photographer's single photograph.

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Are you DBE / WBE / EDGE certified?

Absolutely! Starr Digital Technologies, Inc. d/b/a Above All Aerial & Specialty Photography - Ohio is DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) and EDGE (Encouraging Diversity, Growth & Equity) certified in the state of Ohio. Although Ohio does not have a separate WBE (Woman-owned Business Enterprise) certification, Above All - Ohio is in fact a 100% woman-owned business.

If you are a contractor doing public works projects with diversity goals, we'd love to hear from you! We will be happy to quote any jobs requiring pre-construction, progress, and/or post-construction photography or video. We also do infrared photography (thermography) and infrared inspections as part of preventative maintenance (PM) and condition-based maintenance (CBM) programs. Above All - Ohio has a certified thermographer on staff.

Our certification letters can be downloaded with these links:      DBE Certification   |   EDGE Certification   |   Thermographer Certification

It's worth noting that we do provide all of our services - photography, video, and thermography - both from the air and on the ground.

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Can I use one of your photos for free?

Absolutely! You may freely use any of the photos on our web site UNMODIFIED, for PERSONAL USE.

That means you may not crop out, erase, or alter the copyright notice, our name and/or logo, "watermark," or web site address. You may also not use any image for any commercial purpose for free.

If you would like a high resolution photo to use for any purpose other than personal use, please contact us. We will be happy to help you in a way that is professional and fair for both of us.

Note: We do sometimes provide images to charities at no charge and to students at a reduced fee. However, consideration for free or reduced-fee usage is on a case-by-case basis.

Before you ask to use any of our images (or do any other work for you) without compensation, please read this excellent article written by Tony Wu. We can not explain it any better...

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I like the slide shows on your web site - how did you make them?

The slideshows are all done with a script called "Ultimate Fade-In Slideshow" © Dynamic Drive. Visit www.dynamicdrive.com to get the script or 100's more...

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Above All Aerial & Specialty Photography - Ohio

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