The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is my first post from my DJI Mini 3 Pro drone. Taken over the Vicksburg railroad bridge. I was attracted to the flow of the water, the details in the bridge structure and of course the flag flying proudly in the breeze.
Specific Feedback
Since this is my first post of an aerial image any suggestions are appreciated and most welcome.
Using a flying camera can be a lot of fun can’t it!
I was flying cameras way before DJI came out with the typical drones we see today, I used to build my own gimbals and attach them to single rotor remote control helicopters that were considered 700 class, meaning the blades were 700mm each, times 2 plus the head for a total disc diameter of roughly 59 inches.
Seeing a nearly 5 ft. rotor disc in front of you spinning at 2300 rpm, knowing the only thing between you and those blades was a radio signal that could go wrong at any moment. Kind of scary now that I think about it.
The small drones and cameras of today are much safer!!
I use a DJI Inspire 2 these days, it’s a quad but it’s still quite a bit larger than the DJI Mini series.
Mine has an X5R camera with interchangeable lenses but the mini series puts out images and video just as good theses days, I wish I had of waited and bought a mini myself. I did what I needed to do at the time is my defense
Good that you used a CPL and ND filter, it’s almost always a good idea for drone cameras, especially for video.
This looks really great to me and I like the perspective you chose showing the bridge at an angle. The water looks good, not too much glare, good color and the flag is a very nice touch!
I do think you should flip the image horizontally though, the flag is backwards from normal in this view, I think it would make a big difference.
Good for you for getting out and playing with your stuff. I like the angle here and the diagonal with that pop of color. The URC sort of echoes the stripes in the flag.
I thought you might be interested in seeing a couple images of one of my home build photoships. Most people back then immediately thought of military drones if you said that word so between myself and a few other people like me came up with the name “Photoship”.
I fully appreciate how far technology has come with much smaller and much safer drones made for flying cameras.
A young fella in NY was killed by one this same size but he was being extremely wild and careless while doing hard 3D aerobatics. I never went for any of that stuff, way too dangerous IMO.
These are snapshots from my spotter’s cell phone about ten years ago, I always hired someone to be a safety spotter, he would keep an eye on the helicopter while I watched the view through the video and FPV monitor in front of me (shown in the first image).
It didn’t have auto pilot like modern drones, I had to physically fly it from takeoff to landing, nothing was automatic, no return to home, no self hover. I fully appreciate those features on my DJI Inspire 2
The white looking strips on the orange skids were high output flashing LED strips that could be seen as far as a mile away, that was for safety and visual orientation, one side flashed slow while the other side flashed fast so I could quickly tell which way it was traveling (toward me or away from me).
DJI’s first drone (the Phantom 1) came out in 2013 but the cameras were not good enough for the type of work I was doing at the time, my gig at that time was covering state cross country running events, the track was a 1 mile long loop, I was hired to cover those events from the air, video and stills, I had one camera for video and a second camera for stills mounted on the same gimbal on this helicopter.
I started out doing this in early 2004.
Those were the days!!.. Ha!..Days that I’m glad are behind me!!
It was a lot of fun designing, building, testing and flying them though!
Anyway, just thought you might be interested in a little pre-DJI drone history.
Merv: Thanks for sharing this. What a difference a couple decades make! I wanted a drone several years ago but decided against it since they can’t be used in national parks. I wish there was a way to get a permit but so it goes. I’m hoping to go to Oregon in the fall and shoot some of the lighthouses from the ocean side. There’s nothing worth shooting in my immediate neighborhood but I need to practice more. Thanks again for your encouragement.
