Aerial photograph
Also called: Aerial photography · Topic: Remote Sensing, GIS and GNSS · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Introduction to Maps"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Topographical Maps"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Introduction to Remote Sensing"
Meaning
An aerial photograph is a photograph of the ground taken from an aircraft with a camera that records the scene on light-sensitive film. Black-and-white film is used most often. Colour, black-and-white infrared and colour infrared film are also used. The camera records the whole scene in one exposure and works only in the optical region (0.3 to 0.9 µm). An aerial photograph can be enlarged without losing detail. This makes it a base for topographical maps, which are detailed maps of landforms, rivers, roads and settlements.
Example
Tall, thin structures such as the Qutub Minar in Delhi can be identified easily from their shadows on large-scale aerial photographs. This is harder on satellite images.
Don't confuse with
- Satellite image: recorded by a sensor in space, often as digital data and beyond visible light. Every photograph is an image, but not every image is a photograph.
Related concepts
- Digital image
- Pixel
- Digital number
- Digital image processing
- False colour composite
- Visual image interpretation
- Elements of visual interpretation
- Tone
- Texture
- Shadow in image interpretation