Miltenberg

Miltenberg between the Main and the forest slope

Miltenberg stretches between the Main and a wooded slope. Where the buildable strip becomes narrow, houses and banks are particularly close together. A shot with the bridge in the foreground shows how the city is connected across the river to the other side.

The narrow old town on the Main

At Miltenberg the forest slope comes close to the old town area. With a piece of the Main in the foreground, you can see how little space is left for development in places across the bank.

At the river it is worth taking a second look at both edges of the picture. Sometimes a road ends there and continues along the water in the next section. In another place, a line of trees frames a stretch of bank. Such clues connect the place with its river valley. For a double page spread, you can choose an overview showing the course and juxtapose it with a close-up view of the shore. It helps if at least one bend in the bank or a building can be found in both motifs.

What the roofs reveal about the floor plan

If you look at it at an angle, the houses not only show their roofs, but also their facades of different widths. This gives the motif more depth than in the pure top view. Even the change from a low neighboring building to a taller building reveals something about the gradation of the place. Such a view is particularly useful for a local chronicle if the caption indicates the starting point of the view. Readers can then follow the rows of houses themselves to the edge of the picture.

Which shows the connection between both sides

In the overview, a bridge is initially a line that connects two separate areas. A closer look reveals differences between access, supporting structure and subsequent paths. For a photo series it is therefore worthwhile to include a view of the entire connection as well as a section with one of the bridgeheads. There, the integration into the terrain becomes particularly easy to understand. For comparison, both images can be oriented the same way so that the start and end of the route can be seen without additional explanation.

The distribution of blue tones

For a direct image comparison, use shot 2 and shot 3 from the gallery with 9 aerial photos. In the first excerpt, shades of blue play a smaller role. In the second shot, blue areas take up more space. Blue can extend over a large contiguous area or only appear in individual parts. What also counts for the effect is whether these areas extend to the edge of the picture or surround the main subject.

According to camera data, Shot 9 and Shot 1 were taken on July 1, 2020. There is a gap of around one minute between the two images. The exposure time was 1/400 second for the first of the images mentioned and 1/640 second for the second.

A moving view is also available. The clip “Miltenberg from the air” can be found under Aerial Videos. The linked preview leads to inclusion in the aerial photographer's portfolio on Adobe Stock.

Explain the course of the river in the picture

For a publication about a river, it is worth explicitly naming the bank side if it is known. The left side of the photo and the left bank of the river are two different details. The photo can look in any direction, the bank name follows the direction of flow. Anyone who describes a desired view to the aerial photographer can therefore orientate themselves on a bridge, a settlement or an easily identifiable section of the bank. The same reference points make it easier for the reader to orient themselves later when the river appears to be going in a different direction in the next shot.

Related motifs in the aerial photo archive

The article Passau offers another perspective. Passau's old town lies on a narrow headland between the Danube and the Inn. In the Freudenberg gallery there is a different focus. In Freudenberg, rows of houses follow the curved banks of the Main.