Are you making money with your drone?

[4wd]

$3.57 from stock photo sales

 

[Huckleberry]

How would one go about even determining an hourly cost for drone services? I live in rural america so it's not so easy to compare prices of other services because there isn't a whole lot, if any.

 

[AMann]

How would one go about even determining an hourly cost for drone services? I live in rural america so it's not so easy to compare prices of other services because there isn't a whole lot, if any.

Make a budget list, including all costs, mileage, and how much an hour your time is worth to the type of customer you are serving.

 

[AMann]

$3.57 from stock photo sales

I hear you, Ive made more money from a single low resolution photo I shot than anything I have sold on Alamy just because it was a copyright infringement settlement

 

[zocalo]

I have seen cases where people have attached a GoPro camera to the top-center of a Mavic or Phantom. This could be attached to shoot straight up for bridges. Thoughts?

Already considered that; it might work in some scenarios, but on the larger and more exposed bridges it's going to make the cross-section even more prone to catch the wind, and that type of camera is usually ultra wideangle. Sudden gusts are a major concern, and since we often want detail of specific elements of the bridge (rivets, telemetry devices, welds, etc.), it's not really all that good a match.

Besides, as we're definitely going to need some higher end drones and the cost analysis for those is looking favourable, I don't see any reason to go down a route that might seem a bit Heath Robinson. It doesn't exactly paint the right image when you're asking the executive directors for some budget to proceed to testing phase...

 

[zocalo]

I hear you, Ive made more money from a single low resolution photo I shot than anything I have sold on Alamy just because it was a copyright infringement settlement

Yeah, the stock rates suck these days. Can't make a living off those alone anymore unless you're doing something pretty niche or have a very loyal client base. You either need to be doing commissions, hosting talks/workshops, or writing books/articles as well, or you need a second job.

Alternatively, just treat it as a sideline to a primary day job. Far less stress as you have more freedom to pick and choose what you do and when. If you can build up a decent pool of regular clients and have a good word of mouth/social media referral network going it can produce quite a nice supplementary income.

 

[4wd]

Stock video pays better, if you upload to blackbox it sidesteps any local rule issues
Some of them have different payment levels, the stills I've sold range from $0.25 to $3, I don't know how they arrive at the figures.
It's just bit of fun really, eventually it might make enough to buy a new .... filter or something.

 

[Dronebow]

Stock video pays better, if you upload to blackbox it sidesteps any local rule issues
Some of them have different payment levels, the stills I've sold range from $0.25 to $3, I don't know how they arrive at the figures.
It's just bit of fun really, eventually it might make enough to buy a new .... filter or something.

I've heard about selling stock photos and videos but have never really looked into it. How does one start this process? I've got a ton of photos and videos. And do you do any initial processing or just raw images and videos? For example, do you take a 4 min video and break it apart into several smaller videos?

 

[Maviac]

Local personal injury or insurance defense lawyers will sometimes pay for overhead shots of wreck scenes or vehicles. Especially folks who do trucking (tractor trailer) cases. They’ll also pay pretty good for it.

 

[AMann]

I've heard about selling stock photos and videos but have never really looked into it. How does one start this process? I've got a ton of photos and videos. And do you do any initial processing or just raw images and videos? For example, do you take a 4 min video and break it apart into several smaller videos?

Shutterstock.com is the Wallmart of stock images, I would give my photos away for free and make more money than from there.

Alamy is a good company to work with, so is Getty Images. They like Processed Tiff images but can sell your RAW’s if the client asks too.

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[4wd]

I like Dreamstime for photos. Blackbox for video where your clips should be between about 5 seconds and one minute.
It's imperative the clip looks smooth and professional with no unintended camera movement, you need to be up to speed on rendering at their required bitrate etc.
Since the clips are short I don't find it particularly onerous and yes sometimes you'll get several short snippets from one flight (but most of mine are not drone video).

 

[zocalo]

Another bit of useful advice for stock libraries: consider the library and its likely audience. I'm most familiar with stills for this (most of my video work is on commission, so no libraries involved), but it's pretty much the same for video. There are essentially two types of stock image and library; "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap" and "high quality, high cost". The former (iStock, ShutterStock, etc.) are best used for generic images that won't be worth a lot of money individually but might, if they stand out enough to become popular, get a lot of volume. The latter (Alamy, Getty, etc.) are best used for unique images that won't get many sales but can charge a premium (relatively speaking) for each impression. A generic picture of a random building (say) will probably do better on iStock, get the same building with a stunning sunrise as well and you'll probably be better off with Alamyt.

Ideally, you want to also tailor your composition for the most likely buyer, e.g. magazines and brochures often want some "dead space" where they can overlay some text without detracting from the image. Travel brochures like bright, punchy colours. Corporate brochures tend to favour bold lines, but there's a lot of variance there. You also want to avoid accidental product placement; Brand A won't buy your image/video if competing Brand B is clearly visible in the shot. Above all, don't get your hopes up. You are almost certainly NOT going to get rich this way as there far too many photographers out there trying to do the exact same thing and it's very much a buyer's market.

 

[friocapital]

10 m/s y 36 km/h Mavic supoort 38 km AND the anafi say near 50 km so maybe More expensive doesnt mean mire resistant

 

[AMann]

There is a guy in my area advertising real estate photos at $69 for 5-30 interior/exterior shots and for $99 including aerials. He is good and takes nice shots, but his market flooding is blowing out the local market and is killing the rest of us. I've already had two clients compare my prices to his and they didn't call back even though I was not that much more, but I was firm in my quote as I couldn't justify a loss. The real estate market here has $300k - $1.5m homes, and he's shooting them all for $69. Don't be like him.

 

[Huckleberry]

There is a guy in my area advertising real estate photos at $69 for 5-30 interior/exterior shots and for $99 including aerials. He is good and takes nice shots, but his market flooding is blowing out the local market and is killing the rest of us. I've already had two clients compare my prices to his and they didn't call back even though I was not that much more, but I was firm in my quote as I couldn't justify a loss. The real estate market here has $300k - $1.5m homes, and he's shooting them all for $69. Don't be like him.

Specifically why I was wondering how one would estimate the value of his work. I have a buddy that is a realtor for Realtree Properties and I've thought I would help him out by taking some aerials of the properties that he lists. I wouldn't charge him a dime but if it leads to other opportunity then I'm just curious how one would start to determine their worth.

 

[AMann]

Specifically why I was wondering how one would estimate the value of his work. I have a buddy that is a realtor for Realtree Properties and I've thought I would help him out by taking some aerials of the properties that he lists. I wouldn't charge him a dime but if it leads to other opportunity then I'm just curious how one would start to determine their worth.

If you divide your annual drone project earnings by adding all your costs (add in mileage and the time driving to sites, the depreciation price of batteries and other accessories for your drone and your drone itself, the time it takes to do pre-flights (getting FAA clearances if needed), the time for doing post-processing of photos and preparation for sending to the client, the cost of your 107 license and insurance, and your business taxes) it should be a positive result.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I use a laserprinter to make money

No serious, I am just a hobbyphoto- and videographer, extending his hobby to the drone. Up until today, it only has costed me money.

 

[Drone on]

Curious what people are doing to make a little money to support the habit.

I think roof inspections, bridge inspections, power line inspections, I guess inspections in general would make drone flying less interesting for me.
Maybe the money is good, and the work is different from the norm, but it seems tedious, and a little nerve racking. But, that's just me.
I do make a little money on the creative side very little though. In fact, I'm having to save up for a donut. Oh well, I did not start this for the money.

 

[AMann]

I think roof inspections, bridge inspections, power line inspections, I guess inspections in general would make drone flying less interesting for me.
Maybe the money is good, and the work is different from the norm, but it seems tedious, and a little nerve racking. But, that's just me.
I do make a little money on the creative side very little though. In fact, I'm having to save up for a donut. Oh well, I did not start this for the money.

Yeah, I kept my day job too.

 

[Dronebow]

A lot of guys do real estate, but there’s also very good money getting government contracts. As a independent operator, you can check your local water district or other infrastructure supplier for RFP’s (request for proposal) as they often putting out contracts for certain types of aerial photography. You can also look at pre-existing contracts that they’ve done because as a public agency, they are required by law to make those viewable to the public- Here’s an example from a local water district wanting to get aerial IR photography of a large area of agricultural land for their water use planning:

View attachment 75015

[emoji15]. Guess I need a VTOL then. [emoji6]