Sibylle Allgaier, contact
owner and photographer of Heliphoto, has served Los Angeles, surrounding counties and adjacent states since 1988.

News
After winning the BEST OF SHOW-commercial awards for 2 years in a row, Ms. Allgaier now serves the Professional Aerial Photography Association Intl. as the chairperson of exhibits and print competitions. She heads a panel of 5 judges.

Portfolio
Take a look at our portfolio pages to see the multitude of applications of aerial photography and our diverse architectural photos. To purchase any image you see there, please contact us.

Pricing
Our rates are very competitive. For info please call us at 310 455-2821 we would love to talk to you in person. Or contact us and we will e-mail or fax you a price list or an estimate.

Timing
Usually we need a few days notice to schedule a shoot. Rush jobs can be done on short notice. Allow for 1-3 days turn-around time for proofs. If you need to see the results right away, we can rush e-proofs to you within hours from the time of landing. All shoots are executed when weather and safety permit.

Digital vs. Film
Most of our aerials are shot digitally, with state-of-the-art Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II equipment, featuring a 16 Megapixel chip. If our clients prefer us to use film, we still can. Our digital images more than equal medium format film. Digital photography eliminates grain, saves you the cost of scans, and always gives you a "first generation" image to work with. Don't hesitate to call and ask us for advice.

Most of our architectural exteriors/interiors are also taken digitally, but due to industry standards we still offer to shoot with large format 4x5" equipment. Rental fees apply for strobes or gyros (used for low light/night shots).

Printing+Proofs
All images that leave our office are custom corrected. Proofs are shown via webphotogalleries, so our clients can view their images asap. We print enlargements up to 44" width in-house on our high-end digital photographic printers the Fuji Pictrograph and the Epson 9600 .

Digital Imaging
We can digitally touch-up or manipulate any image to your specifications, i.e. outline properties, add street/company names or beautiful skies, take out powerlines or containers and add trees or signs. Adobe Photoshop has been our favorite image manipulation program since version 4.

Videography
Aerial Videos or on-site videos are taken with our Sony Z1 camera. We offer regular DV or HD quality; hand-held or stabilized footage using a 3-gyro mount. Check out our crew page.

Helicopters
We mostly shoot our stills from two-seater R22 helicopters. They allow low and close angles and perfect positioning. For high altitude shots we fly in airplanes. For shoots outside SoCal we use our connections to rent aircraft at many airports in United States. Our stabilized videos are shot from four-seater R-44 helicopters, with the equipment mounted on the back seat.

Copyright
We ask our clients and web visitors to respect the U.S. copyright laws. Once an image is created, it is automatically copyrighted by the photographer. Our business consists of creating and selling reproductions of our images. To use images from this web site or to scan prints of our images you need to obtain a copyright release from us. Fees apply depending on usage.