Tennessee Landscape
I may have the opportunity to do some ariel photography...
I'll be shooting from about 1500 to 2000 feet trying to capture
property.
Any suggestions on what type of lenses are used for these
types of shot and at what focal length......
What time of day would you shoot these shots as well?
I see mixed advice here, some good and some bad.
The focal length depends on what property size you want to cover.
Approximately:
Per 1000ft (315 m) altitude, each 10 degrees of lens viewing angle
cover about 175ft. (55 m ).
Do NOT do it at noon, or under overcast. It'll look dull.
Early morning or afternoon is much better for getting shadows, contrast
and nice colors.
If you can, take a look at the location(s) in advance, on the ground,
and decide from which direction(s) you'll take the aerials.
This will dictate the time of day morning or afternoon.
If you may take a compass, and check the approximate direction, you
can later tell the pilot his approach direction in degrees - a language
that may work better with him/her.
Clouds may cast disturbing shadows.
If there's haze, postpone the work.
Check the camera strap (connections) in advance. Make sure that
the camera is strapped to you when you lean out.
Don't forget backup camera strap...)
You don't want it to crush someone's flowers... 
Be aware of glare - sometimes there's something that glares strongly
down there, or fix it later on PS.
Taking off the door is nice, but if you can just leave the window open,
it's good enough.
In any case, I'd avoid shooting through a window, even if it's clean.
It may cause distortions.
Get an aircraft with a high wing and take the door off (but buckle up
really really tight).
Right.
Or, just leave the window open and lean out.
In any case, to prevent the aircraft's vibrations from affecting the camera,
don't lean against the side of the aircraft.
Let the seat be the only part of the aircraft that you touch with
your body.
Make sure that what you wear doesn't flap into your face, and that your
sleeves do not flap strongly.
To reduce the aircraft's vibrations to the minimum
Ask the pilot to side-slide, down, towards the "target", lowering the
target-side wing, at low speed (lower throttle), in a landing-like approach
(he can partly or fully lower the flaps to slow down.
This is the best way to take hand-held oblique photographs from a light
aircraft.
Ask the pilot to lower to the minimum altitude allowed.
Use fast shutter speeds.
I use 1/500sec. or faster. Use the optically best aperture, which is
typically around f/8. Adjust the ISO accordingly.
I recommend taking the pics' at about 90 to 45 degrees towards the sun,
so you get a bit of backlighting, but it depends on the characteristics of
the subject.
I'd also use a good quality UV filter.
(B+W, Heliopan, Rodenstock, Hoya Pro)
Good luck and enjoy.
