My fascination for drone photography and why I love my drone
Hello there fellow photographer! In this piece you will learn something about me. I’m telling you about my huge fascination for drone photography, why I picked one up and why I love my drone. Do you own a drone – or plan to buy one? Let me know down below in the comments!
Why I picked up a drone in the first place
Did you ever take a picture with your camera and were thinking: “If I could only get half a meter higher” or “If I could lean just a bit further out over this cliff” (without falling to death of course)? Very often when you read about photography you learn that you should change your position to get a different perspective / composition. While I agree with this, there is only so much you can do yourself – with a drone you gain a lot of flexibility in this regard.
In addition, the idea of flying over the rooftops and seeing the world from above is a childhood dream of mine. No kidding, it was literally a childhood dream! So you can imagine there was a lot of positive projection on the idea of flying by proxy.
Other considerations
Of course there were also considerations which made me pause and think about whether it was indeed something to try:
After some researching I found that drone regulations in Switzerland were fairly liberal. At the time of writing this post, there is a gap in the regulation where drones which are lighter than 500 grams are in a kind of limbo – there are not many regulations for them at all. Of course this does not mean you can do anything you want – and by no means should. But it could make things easier if there are any discussions whether you are allowed to do something or not.
However, notice that Switzerland plans to take over the EU drone regulations in the beginning of 2021. That’s when any drone that has a camera is part of the same regulations – which absolutely makes sense.
Data privacy definitely is a thing. Since I do not want to photograph any people I am fine from that perspective, but I also do not want people to worry or get angry. After all, even if legally ok, I don’t want people to complain and regulations change because of it. So the plan was to lift off, go up straight to higher altitude where people would not be worried.
Would the fascination survive the reality test? Of course no way of knowing in advance, but something to consider when picking one for the first time. But after all the considerations did not quench my wish to get a drone, I was ready to buy one.
Why I picked the DJI Mavic Air
Next step was of course to pick a model. Photography was my main focus, video was not something I planned to do and therefore video specs did not matter to me. I had the following wishlist:
Now wishes are just that: wishes 😉 So how did they compare against the reality? While there are many manufacturers for drones, DJI stood out for me because their drones are wide spread, a lot of people use them and you can find a ton of information about them. At the time, there were only two models weighing less than 500 gram: The Mavic Mini and the Mavic Air. However, of the two only the Mavic Air supported RAW images – which made the pick very easy for me. Costs? Since it was the only one fitting my whishlist I had not other options. It’s certainly not a cheap gadget, but not too prohibitive for me.
And so, I put in the order for a “Fly More Bundle” of the Mavic Air which arrived shortly thereafter 🎉
As you can see below it is fairly compact and lightweight.
There are quite some accessories to go with it, but I still bought one additional battery. Spare propellers and cables are stowed away and the charger is in my “energy station” – a drawer where most of the chargers are in. I take only the 4 batteries, SD-cards and the remote control with me when I go out and shoot.
I can easily store all of those items in the handy bag which came with the “Fly More Bundle” (another reason why I went for this option). It’s really small and comfortable, in short: great and lets me take it with me through the city without a hassle.
Why I Love My Drone
Did I mention that flying over the rooftops and seeing the world from above is a childhood dream of mine? Exploration is something I love too: The reason why I rather walk up a mountain than down; and why suck in games which contain exploration (any Civilization fans here?)
For practice I first went out on an empty field, no obstacles, hardly anyone around: basically low risk for me, my drone and for anything or anyone around. I could not believe how easy it was: The Mavic Air was rock stable and easy to navigate. While it was very loud, as soon as I went to a bit a higher altitude and a little wind was going, it could not be heard anymore.
And the view: nothing spectacular and still fantastic, new perspectives, seeing new patterns. After I gained some confidence in my abilites I dared to get closer to urban areas and shot my first cityscapes. To this day I’m in “explorer mode”: When I start my drone I’m very excited and when the bird eye view reveals itself on the screen there is almost always an inner “Aaaahhhh” – a phantastic feeling. 😍 Will it always stay like this? Probably not, but I will enjoy this time now and then see where this road will lead.
Flying tripod
As I said right a the beginngine: a drone was also attractive to me because I could get to places I normally could not. High up in the air is obvious:
But some of my pictures are taken from very low to the ground. Have a look at this one here, taken not more than a meter above the surface of the river rhine.
Or this one just a few meters from a ledge I was standing on
What about you?
Well fellow fotographer – you read through the entirety of this blogpost. Do you own a drone? Or are you thinking about buying one? While this is entirely up to you, I hope I could share my fascination for drone photography with you. Do you share those feelings or have more questions? I’d be very interest to get in touch and hear about them!
Did you like this Blogpost?
Wow, you made it to then end of this post, thank you so much for reading it all! 🙏 Is there anything you are missing, something which I could do better? If you liked it and/or have constructive feedback be sure to leave a comment below or reach out directly to me. You can learn more about me here.
