Why Aerials Need Editing
The Flight Is the Easy Part
An aerial is the only image in a listing set that answers the questions interior photos cannot: how big the lot is, what backs onto it, how far the water actually is, whether the neighbour's extension looms over the garden. It is the frame buyers scroll back to.
Straight off the drone it rarely looks like that. There is atmosphere between the sensor and the ground, so contrast collapses and everything takes a blue cast. The sky is usually the largest object in the frame and usually the least interesting thing in it. Wide lenses bend the rooflines and fence lines a buyer is reading the property boundary from. And a horizon a degree and a half off level makes the whole set look careless.
None of that is a piloting problem — it is what altitude and a wide lens do. We fix it per frame: haze cleared, colour corrected, verticals and horizon squared, distortion removed, and the sky replaced when the one you flew under is not earning its share of the picture. From $2.50 an image, on the shots you already have.
Pricing a whole listing rather than a single flight? Our real estate photo editing cost guide sets every service against sourced market rates.
What Is Included
Every Frame Corrected
Sky Replacement
Aerials are mostly sky. A flat white overcast band across the top of the frame gets replaced with one that has depth, matched to the light already on the ground.
Colour Correction
Altitude puts haze between the sensor and the property. Contrast rebuilt, the blue cast pulled back, and greens and roof tones returned to what they look like on the ground.
Perspective Correction
Verticals straightened so the building is not leaning out of the frame, and the crop squared up. A tilted horizon reads as amateur faster than almost anything else.
Lens Distortion
The barrel bend that wide drone lenses put into rooflines, fences and property boundaries corrected, so straight lines in the world stay straight in the image.
Enhancement and Detail
Shadow and highlight recovery, sharpening tuned for altitude, and the surroundings — driveway, landscaping, water, treeline — brought back up to readable.
360 Tour Support
Aerial panoramas and 360 frames edited to stitch cleanly, with the seam, nadir and horizon handled so the tour holds together when a buyer spins it.
When To Use It
Worth It On These
How It Runs
Landed to Listed in 24 Hours
Send the flight set
JPEG or the DNG straight off the drone. Send the whole pass if you want us to pick the strongest frames rather than pre-culling in the field.
Tell us what to highlight
The lot boundary, the waterfront, the roof, proximity to a school or a beach. What the listing sells on decides where the eye should land.
We correct and enhance
Haze cleared, colour corrected, verticals and horizon straightened, lens distortion removed, and the sky replaced where the original one is doing nothing.
Review and revise
Back in 24 to 48 hours. If the sky is too dramatic for the market or the greens are too saturated, say so — revisions are included until it looks right.
Common Questions
Drone editing questions
How much does drone photo editing cost per image?
Aerial and drone photo editing starts at $2.50 per image. There is no minimum order, so a single hero aerial on an otherwise standard listing is fine — most sets we receive are two to six frames from one flight.
Do you edit RAW files from DJI and other drones?
Yes. Send the DNG straight off the card, or JPEG if that is what you shot. RAW gives us more shadow and highlight latitude, which matters on aerials because the ground is usually several stops darker than the sky.
Can you replace the sky on a drone shot?
Yes, and on aerials it makes more difference than on any other image, because sky often fills a third or more of the frame. We match the replacement to the light already on the ground rather than dropping a sunset over a flat grey scene.
Can you fix the fisheye distortion from a wide drone lens?
Yes. Barrel distortion is corrected per frame so rooflines, fences, driveways and boundary lines stay straight. This matters on land and acreage listings where a buyer is reading the lot shape directly off the image.
Can you straighten a tilted horizon?
Yes, as standard. Horizon levelling and vertical correction are part of every aerial edit, not an extra. A horizon off by a degree or two is the fastest way for a listing set to look unprofessional.
Do you edit 360 aerial panoramas?
Yes. We handle aerial panorama frames so they stitch cleanly, including the seam, the nadir and the horizon line, so the result holds together inside a 360 tour. Virtual tour editing is priced from $2 per image.
Do you edit drone video as well as stills?
Yes, but it is a separate service. Aerial footage is handled under our video editing packages rather than per image — see our video editing page for turnaround and package pricing.
Can you convert a daytime aerial to dusk?
Yes. Aerials convert to twilight particularly well because of how much sky is in frame. Day-to-dusk conversion is priced separately from $4 per image and can be combined with a standard aerial edit.
Can I see it on my own photo first?
Yes. Send one aerial and we will edit it free, with no card required. Judge the haze removal and the sky match at full screen before you send a whole flight.
Other Real Estate Editing
The aerial is usually one line on a listing order. These are the rest.
Get Started
Send Us a Flight
Tell us how many aerials and what the listing sells on, and we'll quote within 24 hours.
Aerial / Drone Photo Editing
Project Details
Tell us how many aerial frames, whether they are RAW or JPEG, and what the shot needs to show.