This image was made in the same area as my last image out near Factory Butte, Utah. This is another drone image captured just after sunset in very high winds. I was also shooting with my regular camera on a tripod which blew over. No damage was done to the camera or lens but that just shows you how windy it was. These were the only clouds that I got the entire trip and this was the day before I left. This was shot from only about 300 feet with a light tilt down of the lens to capture the amazing erosion features of Factory Butte.
I’m attaching another image made with my regular Nikon camera to show you the different perspectives. Both were taken just moments apart. The leading lines on the opposite side of the butte for morning sunrise are even more amazing but I never had any good light or clouds.
In this image I am much farther away than the drone shot but because of compression (this was taken at 54mm compared to 10mm with the drone) it appears to be much closer to the butte.
Here is a vertcal image taken with my regular Nikon Z 7 camera just BEFORE sunset with a little bit of glow on the top. I wantes to show you that you don’t have to have a drone to get some good images from this location but it does help get you a different perspective for sure.
Another excellent photograph, David. It is particularly interesting to compare the three images and the difference that POV makes. The drone shot is incredible and by far superior to the other two. It is amazing the difference a few hundred feet of altitude can make when it comes to capturing those phenomenal textures. Really outstanding. A view that most of us will never quite get to experience except, perhaps, in our (flying) dreams.
Once you see what a drone sees, it feels like we’re all reptiles scurrying around on our bellies. Although, I like the third image a lot too. That’s some very nice light.
As pointed out already, the drone perspective image is outstanding and reveal amazing textures that is not possible to capture standing on the ground. But I would have been very happy to leave the site with the third image.!
David - what a fun series! To me the drone image is fantastic, and possesses the greatest texture - actually competing somewhat with your main subject due to its fantastic luminance and texture! Great sky as well. I might let the mountain off the right border lose some “power” by decreasing contrast/increasing atmospheric haze as it’s somewhat of an innocent bystander to my eye.
I really enjoy your ground level landscape orientation - probably the best because the foreground textures are more supportive of your primary element and not competing as much with it to my eye.
The vertical orientation is struggling to me with darkness in the foreground and for my eye, would benefit from increasing attention to the lines in this area to help anchor the viewer more.
Thank you for your feedback @joaoquintela , @Ola_Jovall , @Igor_Doncov , @Tony_Kuyper , @Jim_McGovern. With these three shots I wanted people to se the different perspectives that you get from ground level vs. a few hundred feet in the air. Jim, I actually darkened the foreground and probably went too far with it. Thanks for that input.
David, thanks for going through the exercise of illustrating the difference a drone shot makes in perspective. It’s really interesting to see this series presented this way. I’m not much of a “gadget” guy, and never really considered using drones, but wow the drone shot offers an amazing perspective, and is by far my favorite image of this set. What is also amazing to me is how large Factory Butte itself is in the 10mm drone shot, with that focal and so much of the composition showing foreground, the size of the butte holds up really well. In a vacuum, image number would very well for me, but its hard to compete with image #1. Great work all around…
Thanks for the your feedback @Ed_McGuirk and @John_Williams. I am relatively new to using a drone for photography and the perspectives and views they offer are inheritantly different than a ground level shot. It’s much like a photography instructor telling his students to give the viewer a different perspective by getting low to the ground because it significantly changes the perspective of the image. Our earth looks so much different from above than it does at ground level and I appreciate that a drone can offer me ways to make images that most people don’t get to see. It’s not hard at all to do. The drones are highly automated and almost impossible to crash and can provide such a unique view of the world. I would encourage everyone to at least explore this form of photography.
Hi, David–all of these are really nicely-done photos. The patterns revealed by the drone’s perspective are really striking, though. I might suggest cropping down from the top slightly, but that’s down to personal taste. Nice work!
