If you have ever watched those heart-in-your-stomach action movie sequences featuring a guy leaping off a steep cliff and into a moving airplane, you would have experienced the wonderful cinematography that can be achieved by using aerial drone photography.
After just over a year of posting daily aerial pictures and videos, we celebrated hitting the 10K follower mark on our Drones Daily Instagram page last week. We wanted to take a moment to reflect on the last year, which has been a fun experiment in learning what types of aerial photography work best on Instagram (we’ll write a bit more about this in detail in a future post), as well as exploring all the creative methods people are using drones to capture content from very unique perspectives.
Recently, technological developments have made drones available to the mainstream and many drones are used in everyday activities such as spraying crops, covering the news, navigating neighborhoods and recording criminal activities, saving lives by delivering medical supplies in emergency situations and of course, aerial photography.
Drone photography is becoming increasingly popular due to the ability of drones to capture great quality, high resolution images in areas that are inaccessible or difficult to reach such as cliff tops, the middle of the ocean or even deep, dark caves.
Aerial photography is not for the fainthearted but if you are willing to invest the time to learn the best practices, you will reap the rewards in terms of amazing photographs and videos that you will enjoy for years to come.
Here’s our essential tips to help you get started on making great aerial photographs with your drone:
Invest in essential props: Props like the gimbal allow you to mount the camera and set it in any direction you wish thus allowing you to capture shots in multiple angles.
Location, location, location! Heavily wooded areas with many birds and low buildings mean that you will not be able to capture good quality images due to interference and blockage. As much as possible, try and select areas that are free from these elements in order to get the best pictures.
Pay attention to the weather: Clear, sunny days without too much wind and light are essential for capturing good images. It goes without saying that you should avoid taking photographs in cloudy, rainy and snowy weather unless it is your intention to capture these extreme conditions. Mild weather protects your drone from water and snow damage.
Aerial photography is a great way to capture the wonders of nature, the beauty of human settlements and myriad other interesting subjects from different vantage points. After you’ve got the best out of your drone and camera the next wonderful element is sharing your images with friends and fellow enthusiasts.
