The Ultimate Drone Guide

Hello my friends!

One of the best ways of capturing unique photos is by using a drone. In this newsletter, we’ll cover the essentials you need to know to start taking epic drone shots.

Table of Contents

• What do you need?

• The ideal conditions

• Compositions

• Finding the subjects

• Flying the drone

• Drones for videography

What do you need?

Firstly, you need to invest in a drone. While the older DJI drones work, I highly recommend buying a fairly new one since the performance of drones has increased during recent years.

The newer models offer better image quality, increased flight time and a more reliable aircraft connection, which is a big bonus when out in the field.

If it’s important for you to have a small and compact drone, I’d definitely recommend getting a DJI Mini 3 Pro or Mini 4 Pro. These weigh just under 250g while still producing high quality footage - making them incredibly versatile.

If you’re okay with having a larger drone, the DJI Air 3 or any of the Mavic-drones could be worth considering. For example, the Air 3 has a wide-angle and medium tele lens, which is a game-changer both when photographing and filming.

Before flying, just make sure that you have your drone licence sorted out and that you follow local drone laws and regulations.

The ideal conditions

The best way to improve your drone photos is by photographing during sunrise or sunset. The soft light during these times of the day will make it easier to correctly expose your images, while the light also is warmer and more vibrant.

If you haven’t already, try photographing in foggy conditions. The fog can create enchanting light rays, allowing you to get very creative with the lighting in your images.

Apart from the conditions mentioned above, less common weather phenomena contribute to the uniqueness of images. For example, freshly fallen snow or intense autumn colours can help you create some really stunning photos.

Compositions

It is always good to keep the basic rules of composition in mind. Here are a couple of useful ones:

Rule of thirds → By placing the main subject one third into the frame, you can make your images more appealing and interesting to view. 

Leading lines → Leading lines can be used to control where the attention of the viewer should be put. When combining this with symmetry, you can achieve amazing results.

Top-down → When photographing with a 90° angle towards the ground, you’ll be left with a creative top-down perspective. Find a subject that pops in the landscape and get creative.

Minimalism → Although this isn’t a composition technique, striving towards taking minimalistic images is always a good idea. By taking less cluttered images, you’ll create more room for the viewer to reflect.

Finding the subjects

A great way of finding subjects for your drone photos is by simply location-scouting using Google Maps.

I usually combine the satellite view with the topographical map to get a better understanding of the environment.

Understanding the topographical scenery is essential if you want to capture fog in your photographs. This knowledge is crucial since it influences the direction of the wind and identifies areas where humid air is likely to linger.

Flying the drone

Unless you need to fly high to capture a specific shot, consider flying at lower altitudes. Experimenting with different angles allows you to create more depth in your drone photos.

I typically find my flight altitude sweet spot to be between 50 and 80 meters.

Drones for videography

Within the DJI-app, there are a couple of settings that you can modify in order to get extra smooth videos with your drone.

Under the “Gain & Expo Tuning” tab, you’ll find settings related to the drone’s movements. To get here, click on the menu button in the upper right corner → Control → Gain & Expo Tuning.

In this menu, you will find the parameters "Max Angular Velocity" and "Yaw Smoothness." Here’s what they do:

Max Angular Velocity → Determines how fast the drone rotates when you move the left stick. A lower value means that the drone rotates more slowly.

Yaw Smoothness → Affects the beginning and end of the movement. A higher value on this slider will provide a smoother start and end to the drone's rotation.

If you scroll down, you’ll find sliders for "Max Control Speed" and "Tilt Smoothness". These can also help make your clips look more cinematic.

Max Control Speed → A lower value will make the gimbals vertical movements slower, while a higher value will result in a faster tilt rotation.

Tilt Smoothness → A higher value makes the tilt rotation of the gimbal smoother when panning vertically.

I highly recommend experimenting with different values for these settings to figure out what works best for you.

When using the “Normal” mode on the DJI-controller, you’ll also find the “Expo” settings within the “Gain & Expo Tuning” menu.

The Expo settings contain the three parameters Pitch/Roll, Yaw, and Up/Down.

Pitch/Roll → Affects the drone's movements forward, backward, and sideways.

Yaw → Affects the rotation of the drone.

Up/Down → Controls movements up and down.

Higher values for these sliders will make the drone more responsive and sensitive to the movements of the sticks. If you want smoother clips, it may be wise to have lower values on these sliders.

With lower values, you will need to move the joysticks more before the drone responds, which can help avoid sudden movements of the drone.

I hope this article will inspire you to create more content with your drone! So let's head out, get that drone flying, and most importantly, have fun!

/Kevin