Construction Progress Photos

[Dave Pitman]

So I’m sure some of you guys have used both Litchi and Go 4/GS Pro. Why did you move to Litchi?

Regarding GS Pro, it is getting better but I prefer Litchi and Map Pilot. GS Pro, for the P3 series on, literally did not exist until a couple of years after Litchi and other SDK apps were quite mature. DJI makes some great hardware but their software engineering team is not the best and tend to move on to new products before perfecting the old ones. On the other hand, the Litchi team is focused on making it as good and stable as it can be.

It makes sense to assume that DJI's own software would be the best for DJI hardware. But for now, that's not true in some cases.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

I am doing 2 construction projects right now. Each will take about a year to complete and I run a litchi mission once per month so the video is always the same. In the end I will blend them into a timelapse and send this to the GC. I almost never use djigo and litchi is the goto app

Are your projects near your location you list on your profile (New Prague, MN)? I only ask because we have family in Mankato and Winona and a client in St Peter. Good to see another MN pilot online.

Michael

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Nice! - Thanks again for the help. I have my first construction shoot Tuesday, so I'll prob take some time tomorrow or Monday to test out Litchi beforehand.

Let us know how you did today if you have a chance.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

This is a wonderful program that you can create a flight from scratch on your computer with exact waypoints, and can even tell your drone which way to face and what angle to set your camera at. That way you can get the same photo each time!

Also make sure you shoot about the same time each day that way the shadows in your image will line up nicely.

Good tip on the time of day for shadows...

 

[Z06Aggie]

Let us know how you did today if you have a chance.

Well, I moved my flight up to Monday since there was bad weather forecasted for the rest of the week. I went ahead and used DJIGo4 since I hadn't had time to mess with Litchi, yet. Didn't want to compromise my product for the client.

After completing my mission, I did manage to plan an Orbit mission in Litchi and ran it with no problems. It was just a quick little circle and land, nothing special, but I was impressed with the ease of planning it in my truck with the drone on the ground, and how smooth it went. I can tell that I have barely scratched the surface of what Litchi can do, so I've got lots of practice to do. Nasty weather is going to hold me inside for a few more days though.

 

[B_Dawson]

Well, I moved my flight up to Monday since there was bad weather forecasted for the rest of the week. I went ahead and used DJIGo4 since I hadn't had time to mess with Litchi, yet. Didn't want to compromise my product for the client.

Congrats on completing your first construction mission. If this week in Houston has been anything like Dallas it's a good thing you moved your flight to Monday.

If you wouldn't mind can you share a little about how you got the monthly progress gig? Was it something you were asked to do or did you go after it?

 

[Z06Aggie]

Congrats on completing your first construction mission. If this week in Houston has been anything like Dallas it's a good thing you moved your flight to Monday.

If you wouldn't mind can you share a little about how you got the monthly progress gig? Was it something you were asked to do or did you go after it?

I was contractor for 15 years before breaking off to start my own photography company, so I have quite a few contacts in the construction industry. I have been emailing and calling GC's, architects, owners, etc. since I started my company.

 

[Geo_in_KS]

You're very lucky to have inside contacts Aggie! There is a large construction project going on ear me and there are only just doing excavation right now.
I'm really struggling with how I should approach them. I thought of a portfolio of some of my building photos etc but I'm sure they don't care about that.
Any chance you could give me any pointers on what might be of interest to them?
They're close enough I could be there every day doing shots if that's what they wanted.
I have already done a couple flights over the project with Litchi, but I dont have anything Drone Deploy yet, but if I got the right contract I would buy that right away. (Pro= $500/yr)

 

[Z06Aggie]

You're very lucky to have inside contacts Aggie! There is a large construction project going on ear me and there are only just doing excavation right now.
I'm really struggling with how I should approach them. I thought of a portfolio of some of my building photos etc but I'm sure they don't care about that.
Any chance you could give me any pointers on what might be of interest to them?
They're close enough I could be there every day doing shots if that's what they wanted.
I have already done a couple flights over the project with Litchi, but I dont have anything Drone Deploy yet, but if I got the right contract I would buy that right away. (Pro= $500/yr)

Great question - You say "large" project, so I assume there's a portable office on site? I would start there. There should be a head superintendent on site, and they are used to solicitors stopping by.

I, personally, was not a fan of people stopping by unannounced, so keep it short and sweet. Maybe just print out a flyer of some sort with some aerial photos (doesn't have to be construction) and leave it and your contact info with them. Tell them you're looking to get into construction photography and you'd be willing to give them one free photo as a sample and offer up monthly progress pics. Adobe Spark is a cool tool for creating flyers, if you need some help getting started.

If you're not into the door to door type of approach, there's more than likely a sign somewhere around the site with a General Contractor's name and contact info on it. Give them a call and ask for the Project Manager of the [insert address here] project. Simply ask the PM if you can have his email address to send him some examples of your work.

Third: It's usually the Owners, not the contractors, who are looking for the progress pics. They may be located out of town, and can't see the site regularly. If you can do some snooping around, and find out who owns the building, maybe give them a call and offer up some examples of your work. They love a chance to keep an eye on those sneaky contractors!!!

Just a couple thoughts. I'm not a very good salesman, so I'm prob not the best person to ask, but hope this gives you some insight. Best of luck!

 

[Mike Nevins]

You might also consider Autopilot. It is more for the professional than Litchi IMHO. But for construction progress reports, I would map it like Florida Drone Supply suggested, then you can layer the maps to show the progress, i.e., before and after. I will probably be HIT because of my comment on Litchi. No foul intended. I just did not have good luck with Litchi.

 

[Mike Nevins]

BTW, Dronifi will be releasing their Construction Module in March (Hope), It's designed for construction and provides capabilities way beyond just progress reporting. Were working with the Beta now. Can't wait for it to be done. It really will be a game changer for DSP's.

 

[Geo_in_KS]

Ill combine my reply to both of you in one. Aggie, thank you a ton! Im not a salesman at all, hence my hesitation on the approach. But your information helps me a ton! There is a portable office on site, but I think Ill take your advice and try to seek out the owner. (or both). Ill look into Adobe Spark too, havent heard of that.
Mike, I respect your opinion on Litchi. I actually have another thread asking for different opinions on Litchi & AP. Ive had some glitches with Litchi lately too, I assumed it was almost foolproof. I am seriously considering purchasing AP soon. Do you have a preference one way or another for android or Apple for AP? I could run either.
Thanks again guys!

 

[Mike Nevins]

Ill combine my reply to both of you in one. Aggie, thank you a ton! Im not a salesman at all, hence my hesitation on the approach. But your information helps me a ton! There is a portable office on site, but I think Ill take your advice and try to seek out the owner. (or both). Ill look into Adobe Spark too, havent heard of that.
Mike, I respect your opinion on Litchi. I actually have another thread asking for different opinions on Litchi & AP. Ive had some glitches with Litchi lately too, I assumed it was almost foolproof. I am seriously considering purchasing AP soon. Do you have a preference one way or another for android or Apple for AP? I could run either.
Thanks again guys!

Well, with DJI products they seem to work better with Apple. I have both, an android phone and an Apple Mini 4 Pad. I like the Apple mini 4 attached to the controller. Autopilot works very well with it. They have had some issues, but are very quick to resolve them when Apple comes out with an update which is important to me. The support I got from Autopilot was great, they worked with me and even offered advanced Beta flight apps if I wanted. I turned that down, because I need stuff to work out in the field. Autopilot provides a list of phones, tablets for both Android and Apple. But for me, I will stick with Apple iOS. Hope this helps.

 

[Geo_in_KS]

That does! I dont think Ive heard anyone yet say droid worked better. Good to hear their support is good too.

 

[Mike Nevins]

You're very lucky to have inside contacts Aggie! There is a large construction project going on ear me and there are only just doing excavation right now.
I'm really struggling with how I should approach them. I thought of a portfolio of some of my building photos etc but I'm sure they don't care about that.
Any chance you could give me any pointers on what might be of interest to them?
They're close enough I could be there every day doing shots if that's what they wanted.
I have already done a couple flights over the project with Litchi, but I dont have anything Drone Deploy yet, but if I got the right contract I would buy that right away. (Pro= $500/yr)

I just heard that DD increased their basic Pro to $ 129.00 a month. It was $99.00 of which I recently downgraded to the basic no cost version. Not that DD is bad, just can't support $99.00 a month without return. I am using Maps Made Easy at the moment. They work a little different, but allow you to purchase only what you need. I like that option. I do use their (DD) flight app, its ok, and I have not really had any real problems with it. I don't know if I mentioned it here or not, but Dronifi will be coming out with an end-to-end construction solution. I currently use their Agriculture and TurfSolutions and there is nothing out there quit like it. I'm sold for the moment. They also have the ability to do what DD does, so that was another reason I downgraded DD. Their construction module is supposed to be out in March some time. I am currently using the Beta. When its done, it will be really nice.

 

[R.Perry]

I have blueprints reduced to 8.5x11 with my panos highlighted on them. I shoot 13 panos (34 photos each) and Litchi puts me in the exact location each time. I use Drone Deploy for the mapping.

 

[2nd2non]

Are people using a fixed, same value white balance for their progress photos or just setting the WB based on actual kelvin (ie sunny vs cloudy)? I’m wondering if it will look more consistent with the same WB independent of weather conditions at least for progress photos/videos

 

[Meta4]

I don't think Ive heard anyone yet say droid worked better.

The Android version of DJI Go works perfectly as long as your tablet has a fast enough processor, graphics card and enough RAM.
Try to run it on a sub-optimal device (Android or Apple) and you'll have issues.

 

[R.Perry]

Are people using a fixed, same value white balance for their progress photos or just setting the WB based on actual kelvin (ie sunny vs cloudy)? I’m wondering if it will look more consistent with the same WB independent of weather conditions at least for progress photos/videos

I use Kelvin white balance, since many days I shoot this time of year we have low fog. I have found the clients on job sites aren't looking for glamour photos and don't care about color accuracy, they are only interested in the progress of work being done and being able to verify it. I do no retouching of photos because the average days shoot is between 300 and 600 photos so the quality needs to be good enough to please the client without editing.

 

[R.Perry]

The above photos were resized because they were too large to post.