It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned photographer or a beginner hobbyist, you’re always looking for more ways to take better shots. You want to get pictures of rare views that not many other people have captured before.
The best way to do that is by taking to the skies. It’s not as hard to accomplish that as you may think. The secret to good aerial photography is attaching your camera to a drone.
There are a ton of models out there that you can pick up. Each one is packed full of features that will make your pictures pop. Are you ready to get started?
Check out this guide to learn more about drone photography and figure out how it’s done.
Choose Your Drone
The first step of drone photography is buying your device. Before you head to the store, take a moment to think about your skill level and what your needs are. If you already have a camera, you don’t need a drone that has one built-in.
Your professional-grade camera is most likely better than the one that’s in the drone. If you don’t have a camera yet and you’re willing to deal with having a lower resolution, buying a drone with a built-in one will be a little cheaper than buying both devices at once.
If you have no idea how to fly a drone, you need to choose a model that’s lightweight and easy to manage. If you don’t, you may end up with blurry pics because you can’t keep the device sturdy.
You can always spring for the big expensive drone that has a ton of features once you get some experience with operating the cheaper one.
Read the Instruction Booklet
No matter what model you buy, it’s important that you actually open the instruction booklet. We understand that it’s a dry read, but this is an important step.
It will tell you everything that your new Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced can do and can’t do. If you have any questions about your new device, the answer will be in that manual.
Besides, the more time you spend reading, the less time you have to spend trying to figure out the drone. This means you’ll have more space in your schedule to improve your photography skills for lifestyle product photography service.
Learn the Features That You Have to Work With
Now that you have a basic grasp of how your drone works, it’s time to learn about the special features that it has. All of this will be in your instruction manual, but we can give you a basic overview of what you may have in your arsenal.
Smartphone Capabilities
Most drones have smartphone capabilities. What this means is that you’ll be able to see exactly what your drone sees right on your phone. It makes it simple to take great photos.
Just make sure that you don’t get tunnel vision. If you stop paying attention to your environment, you may steer your drone into a random pedestrian by accident.
Smart Mode
Smart Mode is a great feature for beginners. The best way to describe this is with an example. Let’s say that you’re out with your drone when all of a sudden, the wind picks up.
If you’re a newbie, you may not have what it takes to stop it from going off course. Smart mode will handle the stabilization for you.
Geofence
Geofence acts as an invisible barrier of sorts. It will prevent your drone from going over a certain height, which is kind of helpful for beginners.
One of the major causes of drone mishaps comes from people losing track of their devices. This feature will stop you from doing that.
Tracking
Let’s say that you want to get yourself in the shot. One of the best ways to do that is with the tracking feature. Click on the “follow me” option on your smartphone.
As long as you have your phone in your pocket, your drone will zip over to your location and stay there until you tell it not to.
Read Up on Drone Laws
Most states have some type of drone regulation in place. You’ll need to read up on the local laws, or you might find yourself in hot water.
We will say that most rules involve not flying your drone over a certain height (another thing that the Geofence feature is good for) and not hovering it above people. You’ve got to respect the privacy of others.
Look For Places to Fly
Once you learn what the rules in your area are, you can start to look for places to take your pictures. We’ll say that Google Earth is a great way to go about this.
You can get a birds-eye view of the local sights to find the perfect photo opportunities. You’ll also be able to take notes on how to position your drone to take the shots you want.
Download a Weather App
Before heading out, you need to either use the weather app that’s already on your phone or download one. Precipitation of any kind can damage the internal wiring in your drone.
You need to watch out for high winds as well. If the gusts are too much, it will be hard for you to keep your drone stabilized. This could end in a broken device or blurry shots.
Pick Up a Few Drone Accessories
Before you take your drone out, it might be a good idea to pick up a few additional accessories. Having these things isn’t necessary per se, but they will make things easier for you.
Extra Batteries
The main struggle of drone ownership is that they don’t have long battery life. Even the high-end ones dip out after about half an hour or so.
If you’re not near a power source, you’ll have to call it a day. That is unless you have a few additional batteries to work with. We’ll warn you that buying them isn’t cheap, but they’re good to have.
Propellers
Drone propellers can be super fragile. All it takes is bumping them into something one time to snap them off. You might be able to reattach them if you can find them.
Instead of trying to hunt down their wayward propellers, most people simply bring a few extras with them. They’re pretty cheap to buy.
Lights
Well, it’s getting dark, time to stop taking pictures and pack up for the night. Or is it? If you had LED lights attached to your device, you could keep going.
Having lights on your drone will also prevent you from losing it.
Landing Pad
We will admit, giving your drone a little pad to land on is a bit extra, but there’s a method to the madness. It gives you something soft to land your device on so you don’t break it.
Take Your Drone for a Test Drive
Before you attach your expensive camera to your drone, it’s a good idea to get a basic idea of how the controls work. The last thing you want is to lose control of the device and send it and your professional-grade camera to the ground.
Take the drone to a huge open area. This way, you can get some practice in without worrying about steering your device into a tree or some other obstruction.
Learn the Basic Photography Rules
If you’re a beginner when it comes to photography, you have some studying to do before you send your drone into the air. You won’t be able to take a money shot if you don’t know what that entails.
You need to know the basic fundamentals at least. For example, most of your pictures need to be taken with the rule of thirds and color composition in mind.
Play Around With Height
When it comes to taking pictures with your drone, higher isn’t always better. If you go too far up, it might throw off your entire composition.
You’ll fit the beautiful landscape into the frame but, you’ll also get cars, bicyclists, someone’s pet dog, you get the picture. It’s a lot of extra clutter that you don’t need.
Aerial Photography Tips to Live By
If you’re looking to improve your picture-taking game, take to the skies with aerial photography and Drone Videos.
There’s a lot you need to consider before you go out and buy your first drone.
You’ll need to do a lot of research and pick up the right accessories for the job. Trust us when we say, though, it will be more than worth it when you see the results.
Are you looking for more drone tips that will send your photography to the next level? Check out the Tech section of our blog for even more awesome tips and tricks.