Drones are attracting a lot of interest for their ability to help construction managers track changes, quantify production and plan logistics. But they also are exciting construction photographers who appreciate their ability to easily send cameras to vantage points that previously were accessible only through elaborate—and, often, very expensive— means.

Click here to view ENR's 2015 Photo Contest: Jobsite Geometry

从海岸到海岸的专业和业余摄影师正在尝试无人机和相机组合，并梦想着尝试新事物。

自由摄影师和摄影师Rehema Trimiew说：“显然，它使您几乎可以访问您要达到的任何角度。”“可悲的是，地下，全科医生丢失了，因此很难保持四轮肌马stable。它开始漂流。”她说。

Trimiew, who has two winning photos in this year’s gallery (see pp. 26 and 35), recently took a DJ1 Inspire drone in her camera kit for a shoot in West Africa. She found it gave her an angle on her work that would not have been possible before (see photo, above). Now, she wants to try setting up a drone to record a project’s evolution over time, she says.

“除了摄影外，我还将其用于视频，我希望从事移动的延时工作，您可以在GPS坐标中进行编程，然后重新录像并每月拍摄相同的坐标。一开始，它是空的，并且在视频结束时，您已经完成了一个完整的项目（该项目），该项目已经通过几个施工阶段过渡。我可以设想它看起来真的很棒，”她说。

Amazing is becoming the norm, says Sam Darghous, lead drone pilot and trainer at Pittsburgh-based Michael Baker International. He says drones and drone photography will become jobsite standards.

In the past, there were only two options for jobsite photography: up-close shots—taken by hand, usually from the ground—and wide-angle shots, taken from high above a site in a helicopter or airplane, says Darghous. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) add a perspective that can be up close and personal, yet airborne. “Everyone is getting used to seeing that level of detail now, that artistic type of photography,” he says. “Drones might not become requirements for jobs soon, but the photos only drones can get will be.”

And the new aerial capability comes with a big cost break.

“For construction photography, UAVs are awesome. We’re getting shots that were previously impossible,” says Ryan Swakon, a licensed pilot and photographer for Precision Unmanned Aerial in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Before, you’d have to spend thousands of dollars an hour to get an image. Now, it’s almost painless.” He says he uses UAVs to shoot in places that even helicopters can’t go.

“We’re shooting the Seattle Space Needle, and we can’t be under it with a helicopter. With a UAV, we can, and we also can go through parking structures or under bridges,” says Swakon. However, he warns would-be drone photographers to be aware of the legal differences between shooting on foot and in the air.

“Not just anyone can put a camera on a UAV,” Swakon says. Current Federal Aviation Administration regulations require commercial drone photographers to be licensed aircraft pilots and obtain an FAA 333 exemption. They also cannot fly higher than 400 ft or near airports, heliports and manned aircraft, says Swakon.

And new regulations also require that every drone, whether flown by a hobbyist or a professional, be registered with the FAA. But working within the regulations is worth it, says Swakon. “We’re going to do crane inspections, and we’re taking pictures of the cotter pins themselves in very high quality,” he says.

安全是切换到无人机的另一个原因。One of this year’s photo-contest winners, Kevin Shea, says he crawls and climbs all over jobsites. But he is considering getting a drone and a new camera, if only for his peace of mind, because climbing while carrying camera equipment can be risky.

“在攀爬时，任何相机都应牢固地绑在您身上。Shea说，这种重量会很严重 - 就像[建筑主管]在“现在离开现场”认真的那样。”“我的起重机上的高度超过500英尺。”

有一台新的小索尼相机，使用海峡玻璃（主要镜头）拍摄4K图像。现在，无人机技术已经超越了鱼眼gopro相机，他说他不必为了方便而牺牲质量。

很少有无人机摄影师将自己视为艺术家。像Darghous一样，大多数人将无人机和相机视为数据收集工具。

“I don’t consider myself a photographer only. I’m a pilot, a photographer, a surveyor and an engineer,” says Darghous. “On any given day, I’ll need to be any one of those.”