In this short article, I want to share a few of my experiences gained in the early days of flying a drone and capturing different scenes. You'll see how learning to fly a drone will most definitely help with your photography.
Read the flight manual, spend time watching the videos, but make sure you watch what other pilots are doing and define your own creative style.
Always consider safety first and comply with the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) regulations for drones, or your country specific ones. https://www.caa.co.uk/Consumers/Unmanned-aircraft-and-drones/
Create a flight checklist, and go through the appropriate planning and risk assessments. More on this in the official PfCO training which we'll discuss later.
Learn to fly confidently. At first it can be daunting to see your drone high in the Sky (less than 400ft), but don't be alarmed, that's what they are designed to do !
First images, consider using the standard automatic settings. Remember you're still navigating, flying and watching for those images you want to take. The camera does a good job (drone dependant) setting the correct exposure and producing high quality output.
Bracket your images. Drone cameras are capable of producing 3 shots, underexposed and overexposed. You may not require them, but remember you can blend the images in your software to create HDR Images.
Flying high upto 400ft will give you a great view over whatever it is you're trying to capture, but many of the best images are shot at around 100ft, again depending on the subject.
One you've conquered the above and the results are shining through, move onto the drone features and learn how to use them and how they can play a part in your movie moments.
That's it for now, if you have an questions or need any advice, we would love to hear from you. Drop an email to dronepvs@gmail.com.
