An aerial portrait in Okinawa costs $530 for 30 minutes: 15 edited aerial photos and a 15-second vertical clip within seven days. We pick a northern beach outside the US-base and airport exclusion zones, on a date when low tide falls in the late morning, and handle registration, MLIT approval and landowner consent.
Why here
Seen from above, Okinawa’s shallows become bands of colour — white sand, turquoise, the dark line of the reef — and two people standing in them are the scale that makes it read. It needs two things to line up: a falling tide that exposes the sand, and a sun high enough for the colour. And it needs a beach away from the bases.
How the shoot is planned
We take off from a point the landowner or beach manager has cleared, usually in the Motobu or Kouri area. The first pass is straight down over you on the exposed sand with the water around you; the second rises slowly so the reef edge and open sea come into frame; the last tracks you walking along the waterline. We keep the drone off the Kouri Bridge roadway and away from anyone swimming.
We look for a date when low tide falls between about 10:00 and 13:00, which happens only on some days each month, so tell us your travel window early. April to June and October to November are clearest and calmest. Summer is clear but hot and the peak of typhoon season, and the trade wind often picks up in the afternoon, which can ground the drone. Winter is often cloudy, and the colour flattens.
What’s included
In the package
Fees and permits on the route
Inspiration
Frames by photographers on Unsplash, credited below — the mood to plan your own shoot against, not our portfolio.
Photos: Zion C, T K, Roméo A., Sebastian Dugudae on Unsplash
Before you book
$530 for 30 minutes, 15 edited aerial photos and a 15-second vertical clip within seven days. Map checks, MLIT paperwork where needed and the landowner’s consent are included; book at least three weeks ahead.
Over and around the designated US facilities — Kadena, Futenma, Camp Schwab and others — under the Small Unmanned Aircraft Prohibition Act, including roughly 300 m around them; inside Naha Airport’s restricted airspace; and over Naha’s densely inhabited district without approval. Some beaches and the Kerama national park add their own rules.
Sometimes, with the national park’s and the village’s rules confirmed for the exact spot, and it adds a ferry day with a cancellation risk. For this service we usually recommend the north of the main island, where the shallows are as good and the logistics are simpler.
Same shoot elsewhere
Other shoots here
Next step
The service and place are already filled in. We reply within 2 hours, 9:00–21:00 Japan time; no deposit required to enquire.
