Bird of prey... from above

Pull_Up · May 13, 2014

During a flight this evening just buzzing around for the fun of it this Red Kite (bird of prey) flew into view below me as I hovered with the GoPro looking straight down at some circular patches in a crop field. I tried to follow it (tricky) for a fairly unusual tracking shot of a large bird of prey from directly above. Filmed near Wittenham Clumps in South Oxfordshire from a DJI Phantom 2 with Zenmuse H3-3D gimbal. Preview image is not to scale!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnaxmEmMNq0[/youtube]

ElGuano · May 14, 2014

Nice! That's smooth output. I often wish I had more closeup shots of birds but at the same time I'm glad they keep their distance.

AMKings · May 14, 2014

Once you get flying with a flock or birds they seem to love whirling around the phantom don't they. I suppose it's curiosity- let's hope it doesn't kill the cat so to speak!

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Pull_Up · May 14, 2014

Kites are territorial and I've had a few come and have a look over the months. On an early flight with my Vision I had a same-height encounter at the end of this video: http://youtu.be/AXux-s_ARk8?t=2m32s although they've never come close to attacking and if they look disturbed I immediately retreat (1.2kg bird meets 1.2kg Phantom - not a contest I want to see!).

I was flying at 60m on the video in my OP as there were some people walking between my take-off point and this field about 400m away - if I had my wits about me I could have descended as I followed the bird, but it was taking all my concentration just to try and keep it centred (ish) in the frame, never mind any thought of improving the shot! The H3-3D does allow for a lot more fumbling around with the controls and have a reasonable result, though.

AMKings · May 14, 2014

For sure. Spectacular at the end. We had some great flights with gulls on London canals which pretty much made us the money as the client loved it. We then had another great encounter on one of the lakes in the Cotswolds whilst filming there; I think both are on our Q1 reel on the home page www.aerialmediakings.com

The London shot was pure luck! The Cotswold ones were framed, however lucky too as it was a practice run not on the correct GP settings.. Both make for nice viewing though..

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