Tips for taking photos

[Meluk]

Hey all,

I have a Vision plus but I guess any aerial photography tips will be applicable to any aerial platform,

Without getting into too much detail - I have a friend who has asked me to take some good aerial photos of his mansion

Please pass on your valuable experience, tips etc to get some good photos. There must be more to it than just flying up there and taping on the photo button on the app? I am waiting for a sunny day (may be waiting some time here in the UK!) and the most I know is, its always good practice to have the sun behind the camera i.e. lighting up the object your photographing.

I normally never touch the settings on digital cameras - iso, balance etc but I guess these have a higher importance when taking aerial shots? or does the auto setting in the visions camera do quite well sorting it all out itself?

Thanks in advance

 

[enseth]

My advice is make sure you shoot nice and wide so you can crop and remove the fish eye lens distortion. You can also use software such as The Gimp to remove it, which is a free download, The instructions are available on a link on Pull Up's signature but I don't think you get quite as good result as shooting wide & cropping in PP. I also prefer shooting in 16:9 ratio and cropping in post production back to 3:2. My motivation for this is purely designed to get rid of the fish eye. Lightroom is good for adjusting exposure, sharpness, cropping etc but is not free. You will also be able to use the Phantom lens profile, downloadable from DJI to handle the lens distortion. But as I said before I still recon you get a better result by cropping. If you don't have Lightroom and don't want to buy it, Faststone, which is free download, also does a pretty good job on these adjustments. It won’t undo the fish eye distortion though. Apart from this the default setting will suit in most situations. If you really want to get fussy shoot RAW so you have a litle more control in PP.

 

[Meluk]

My advice is make sure you shoot nice and wide so you can crop and remove the fish eye lens distortion. You can also use software such as The Gimp to remove it, which is a free download, The instructions are available on a link on Pull Up's signature but I don't think you get quite as good result as shooting wide & cropping in PP. I also prefer shooting in 16:9 ratio and cropping in post production back to 3:2. My motivation for this is purely designed to get rid of the fish eye. Lightroom is good for adjusting exposure, sharpness, cropping etc but is not free. You will also be able to use the Phantom lens profile, downloadable from DJI to handle the lens distortion. But as I said before I still recon you get a better result by cropping. If you don't have Lightroom and don't want to buy it, Faststone, which is free download, also does a pretty good job on these adjustments. It won’t undo the fish eye distortion though. Apart from this the default setting will suit in most situations. If you really want to get fussy shoot RAW so you have a litle more control in PP.

That's very useful, thanks. Is the fisheye more prominent in higher shots taken of the horizon? I guess I will be having the camera angled quite a bit down aiming at the house so will fisheye be as noticeable? Saying that, look at this one I took off the horizon last night, it seems pretty flat to me?

 

[enseth]

Yes, the greater the angle the more pronounced the fish eye effect. Bear in mind my only experience is with a Vision. I would however assume it's the same with a Vision + a it's the same camera lens, just in a different housing. Nice photo by the way.

 

[Seahorse]

Have the sun behind the phantom if possible, unless taking a sunrise/sunset image. Take full advantage of the golden hour. Switch from GPS to Atti just before you take your shot then immediately flip back unless you don't mind it blowing away...

 

[Meluk]

Have the sun behind the phantom if possible, unless taking a sunrise/sunset image. Take full advantage of the golden hour. Switch from GPS to Atti just before you take your shot then immediately flip back unless you don't mind it blowing away...

Atti mode! forgot about using that, the videos are so smooth in GPS with the Vision plus I tend to just leave it in that mode but every little helps I guess.

I use http://www.suncalc.net/ to check where the sun will be at any given time so that will come in handy, just need the sun to make an appearance

 

[Seahorse]

Atti mode! forgot about using that, the videos are so smooth in GPS with the Vision plus I tend to just leave it in that mode but every little helps I guess.

I use http://www.suncalc.net/ to check where the sun will be at any given time so that will come in handy, just need the sun to make an appearance

Thread is about taking Photos, not videos... :idea: as for that sun thing, I remember is was round and yellow, but that's about it

 

[Meluk]

Atti mode! forgot about using that, the videos are so smooth in GPS with the Vision plus I tend to just leave it in that mode but every little helps I guess.

I use http://www.suncalc.net/ to check where the sun will be at any given time so that will come in handy, just need the sun to make an appearance

Thread is about taking Photos, not videos... :idea: as for that sun thing, I remember is was round and yellow, but that's about it

Thanks for the reminder about the thread topic

I was just meaning, as I normally just do video and not photo, I have just been keeping it in GPS as the 3axis gimbal keeps everything so smooth. As I want these photos to be the best they can, Atti may possibly help.

 

[AnselA]

I am waiting for a sunny day (may be waiting some time here in the UK!) and the most I know is, its always good practice to have the sun behind the camera i.e. lighting up the object your photographing.

Thanks in advance

In landscape photography, sunny noon sky and sun behind the camera is mostly considered
contrasty and shadowless lighting.

 

[AnselA]

Bear in mind my only experience is with a Vision. I would however assume it's the same with a Vision + a it's the same camera lens, just in a different housing.

Vision has FoV of 140 deg. while Vision+ 110 deg. Vision+ has less barrell distorsion.

 

[Seahorse]

I am waiting for a sunny day (may be waiting some time here in the UK!) and the most I know is, its always good practice to have the sun behind the camera i.e. lighting up the object your photographing.

Thanks in advance

In landscape photography, sunny noon sky and sun behind the camera is mostly considered
contrasty and shadowless lighting.

Camera takes bad pictures in low light, so help it where you can and I have already mentioned golden hour...