Improve your Aerial Photography with these Nifty tips-aerial photography drone

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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), often known as drones, have appeared on the market in meteoric proportions. Okay, so it’s not as impressive as the iPhone or the iPad but you get the idea right?. 

They’re inexpensive, simple to master, and heaps of fun.

I own many Drones and I love them all.

The majority of folks just want to have some fun with their drones by flying them around and doing some tricks. 

Most individuals, on the other hand, prefer to use their drones to capture pictures or videos from the air. 

This requires a certain degree of talent and practice. Not the same as taking a fast smartphone selfie.

Drone flying abilities are the first thing you should learn. It’s pointless to attempt to get great shots if you’re still concerned about the drone flying out of control.

Read on if you’d want to get better results from your drone’s photos and videos. It’s a plus if you know how to use a camera. 

For aerial photography, the same principles apply; they only need to be tweaked a little. 

Even if you’re a complete newbie, these pointers can help you capture some stunning photos with your drone.

Most drone photographers will start by choosing a camera capable of taking decent pictures and video. There’s a large variety of models currently on the market, and at a wide range of price points.

The best thing to do is to get one of those microfiber cloths and some 99% pure rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) and apply some of that to the lense and then wipe it with the coth. You will probably find that they are not scratches and just dirt. I found that to be the case with mine. if you find that they are scratches then the toothpaste method is not ideal as you could make it blurry.

1. Quality of the Drone camera

How seriously you wish to take photography will have a lot to do with your finances. 

Many drones are equipped with a camera, ranging from the most basic and budget-friendly models up to some higher-end models with excellent cameras.

The built-in cameras work well if you’re just getting started with photography or sometimes snapping a few photos for fun. 

It’s best to invest in a drone that you can connect a camera to if you’re serious about your photography and want to create professional-quality images. 

Depending on your abilities and requirements, you may want to start with a more basic camera and then improve down the road.

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What to look for in a digital camera

• Opt for the most megapixels you can afford.
• Your photos will be crystal clear if you choose a higher resolution.
• Look at the various view settings to discover which one suits your needs the best.
• The ability to work in low-light conditions is a huge plus.
• The greater the frames per second, the better the video quality you’ll get if you want to capture both video and still pictures

Always land with the camera lens aimed straight out, ahead or even pointing slightly upwards.
You might want to consider custom building or if you’re not really the industrious type, buying your own landing pad.
There are numerous ones available, some that even fold out, which take up very little space, when not in use.

2. Practice makes a man/woman perfect

As a beginner, the need to begin shooting photos may be overpowering. 

Fortunately, there are ways to overcome this temptation. Do your best to resist the temptation and make sure you can fly the drone correctly before you add any more obstacles.

Photographs and videos may be taken as soon as you’re comfortable with flying your drone.

Watch the weather as well. Flyers of all levels may benefit from this. 

The more wind there is, the more difficult the job will be and the less probable it is that you will succeed.

3. Climb higher for a better vantage point.

To get a closer look at an item, many individuals will take to the air and fly as near as possible. 

Even while this makes sense on the surface, it ignores the primary benefit of using a drone to fly high above the target and capture more of the action. 

To get a feel for what I’m talking about, try various heights and perspectives.

4. Turn on GPS (Global Positioning System) mode

Even for inexperienced pilots and photographers, GPS mode comes in useful. 

Stabilizations are a major benefit, but it also frees your mind so you can concentrate on taking great photos instead of worrying about how to fly the UAV.

In order to scan the region, pre-plan the flight route, and let the drone take care of everything else, use a drone.

For drone photography, having a Drone with GPS mode is essential. 

In contrast to the majority of RC crafts, cost does not accurately reflect how simple a device is to use. 

The more costly versions of an RC vehicle, for example, have more options and go faster, making them more challenging to drive. 

Controlling a drone or UAV is usually simpler with the more costly versions.

5.Consider purchasing a Gimbal camera.

For stabilising and correcting for movement during shooting, a gimbal is an attachment that connects the camera to your drone. 

A gimbal is already integrated into certain drones with a camera on board. 

A gimbal is an excellent investment if you want to shoot video with your new camera.

In the event that you have already purchased a good drone and good camera, it is well worth it to spend the additional money on a gimbal for greater quality and clarity.

With most gimbals, the camera may also be moved, tilted or angled to provide a wider variety of filming choices.

With a drone-supplier purchase, you will get assistance for your camera gimbal as well as a wealth of instructions on how to use and maintain your gimbal. 

In addition, the gimbal is custom-made for your drone, so there should be no problems. But there is one major drawback: Your options may be somewhat constrained as a result of this.

Fly responsibly: The Federal Aviation Administration requires registration of many drones flown in the US, for hobby or commercial purposes. To learn more about drone registration requirements, visit the Federal Aviation Administration’s drone page here

6. Hone your skills as a pilot

You can’t just purchase a decent drone, pass a theoretical exam, and assume you’re good to go with aerial photography and filming.

Drone photographers and videographers who are also proficient drone pilots have the best of both worlds on their team. 

Before you worry about your video and aerial photos, you need to learn how to fly.

It’s important to note that any competent drone maker will advise those who are just getting started that mastering the art of drone flying comes before mastering the art of drone photography.

It’s important to understand how to capture vistas that are different from what you see every day if you want to become creative with your drone photography. 

Drone cameras, on the other hand, may capture landscapes from various perspectives not possible with an eye-level camera.

While every drone is unique, remember the same principles of exposure, composition, colour, balance, and time of day that apply when taking pictures with a camera.

7. Make a detailed plan before you begin.

The more preparation you put into your flights, the better outcomes you’ll receive with your drone photography and videography. 

You don’t have to plot everything like a high-end Hollywood movie.

In the best of times, filming and photography may take a lot of time. 

But when your total flight time is just 20 minutes, it’s critical to plan ahead of time before you even take off with your drone.

You’ll have to carefully investigate the region, maybe even going there ahead of time to make sure you’re familiar with the landscape.

The weather, dawn and sunset timings, local traffic, and even incidents that might throw a wrench in the works will all need to be taken into consideration.

Clients like film directors who work with tight deadlines will want you to be proactive from the minute you arrive on site.

Be prepared to fly your drone at all times, which means it should be fully charged, have several batteries, and have all the most current map and drone updates installed.

8. Shoot in RAW

While most drones enable you to shoot JPEGs, shooting in RAW is the best way to get the most quality out of your camera sensor.

The amount of data in RAW files is much more than in JPEG files, but although processing and conversion are required, you can adjust the white balance after the picture has been taken and often squeeze a little more dynamic range out of the image.

Lightroom or Luminar are two image editing applications you’ll need to work with RAW images.

9. Investigate photography techniques such as high-dynamic range (HDR).

When it comes to HDR photography, the goal is no longer to capture disturbingly ominous images of decrepit industries and rotting automobiles.

There is a growing emphasis on producing pictures that are properly balanced, capturing sky detail while still preserving shadow detail.

To compensate for the limitations of the tiny camera sensors found in most drones, HDR may be an effective technique for bringing a high-contrast picture closer to what the eye perceives.

A quick burst of photos at various exposures can provide HDR results when taken with the camera on your drone. Changing the shutter speed is a common method of doing this.

Manually adjusting the shutter speed is one method, but if you have a drone, you can use the bracketing feature, which will automatically capture three or five pictures.

10. Learn how to use picture editing software.

Everyone wants their photos to be flawless when they’re taken, but understanding how to edit them may be the difference between a passable shot and one that piques people’s interest.

You have full control over your images now that there are tools like Lightroom and Luminar at your disposal. You may trim pictures to make them seem better, enhance shadows, change colors, adjust contrast, and remove unwanted elements in the editing process.

With Adobe Lightroom, removing power lines and fine-tuning the brightness and contrast in your picture are as easy as pie.

A well-known alternative is Skylum Luminar 4, which has a variety of AI capabilities for replacing the sky and doing other wacky changes to your landscapes.

More recently, Skylum launched Luminar AI, which includes ‘Templates’ that recommend the ideal beginning places for your picture changes, making it even simpler to edit your drone photos.
If your photos are distorted due to the wide-angle lens on your drone, you’ll want to learn how to fix the distortion in your picture editing software.

Finally, since drone cameras utilise tiny sensors, the pictures they capture may include artefacts such as noise, which may be removed in post-processing.

11. Learn about lighting

While photographing from the air or flying at high speeds to capture breathtaking landscapes, the quality of the light is essential. 

Early mornings and late nights, as you’ll soon discover, have the greatest light since there are no harsh shadows during these times.

Another reason to plan beforehand is that golden and blue hours don’t last very long. 

Once your drone is in the air, be as efficient as possible.

When utilizing consumer-grade models, it’s not advised to use low-light drone photography since the typical sensor is smaller and has poor high ISO capabilities, and because you cannot keep your drone fully steady, slow shutter speed photos may be distorted.

You’ll have a much better chance of getting a clean picture if you fly your drone during the day, but you should still try it out at different times of the day to see what kind of amazing shots you can capture!

12. Acquaint yourself with the fundamentals of photography

All of the composition principles you may have heard about apply to drone photography, so you may want to brush up on the fundamentals of what makes a good picture, as well as how to operate a camera.

Drone photography may depend on strong geometric forms, color and texture contrasts, symmetry, and patterns, among other things. 

Acquiring the ability to see possibilities takes work. In a nutshell, fly your drone as much as possible!

While camera technology is very adept at determining the proper exposure for a subject, there are occasions when you’ll need to override those settings to get the finest pictures, particularly if you’re intending to take HDR images.

Along with knowing basic compositional concepts, you’ll benefit from a knowledge of how a camera works and how to expose properly without depending on automated exposure.

13. Utilize Tripod Mode to its full potential

The majority of DJI drones have Tripod Mode, which may seem strange at first but is very helpful for a variety of reasons. 

Essentially, Tripod Mode significantly slows down your drone, giving you much more control.

Having more precise control over your drone has a lot of benefits. 

It assists you in avoiding obstacles while flying in hazardous conditions and may make life much simpler when flying near to the ground.

This is especially advantageous if you are shooting inside, which may be necessary if you are filming a big business area, such as a warehouse.

When taking stills, you’ll often want to utilize Tripod Mode since the increased degree of accuracy makes it simpler to fine-tune your position.

Additionally, it provides the steadiness necessary for time-lapse and hyper-lapse photography.

14. Experiment with lengthy exposures and filters.

While newer drones are less dependent on neutral density filters while shooting in bright settings due to technological advancements, it’s important knowing what lens filters do and how you may utilize them.

Aerial photography lends itself nicely to longer exposures — especially of moving objects such as traffic or flowing water — and if shooting circumstances are too bright, neutral density filters may be used to reduce the amount of light entering your camera’s sensor.

This enables you to slow down the shutter speed of your camera and blur the action in your picture.

Another frequent use of filters for drones is while filming videos. 

If you shoot at 24 frames per second with a shutter speed of about 1/50 during noon, your picture will almost definitely be overexposed — this is where a tiny filter for your drone’s camera will come in handy to reduce the amount of light entering.

You should be able to buy variable ND filters for drones for less than $100 – these are fantastic since they allow you to alter the strength (i.e. opacity) of the filter without changing it.

15. Make a Pre-Flight Checklist

Photographers and filmmakers often create checklists in advance of large projects.

I typically have two checklists: one for the night before the shoot and one for the morning of the shoot, and I couldn’t sleep without them.

These checks are arguably even more important when it comes to drone photography, since the margins may be razor-thin: flying durations are restricted and batteries can be difficult to charge.

As a result, having a comprehensive checklist to ensure that your preparation is up to date may be essential.

Along with listing all of the gear that has to be packed, it may contain activities such as checking the weather forecast, inspecting all of your propellers, formatting your microSD cards, and charging all of your batteries.

Another straightforward piece of advice that is seldom addressed is to keep the lens of your drone’s camera clean and dry. To prevent the lens from fogging up, store your drone with some silica gel packets (the type found inside pill bottles).

Final Thoughts

The world of drone photography and videography is vast, but there’s a lot to learn from the start. 

Hopefully, the tips above will give you a good foundation from which to start flying drones and taking amazing photos from the skies.

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