When your camera gets propellers, it opens up almost endless possibilities. Here are our 13 best tips.
Filming and photography with drones are fun and fascinating, even for those who do not have a photo that interests them.
But getting the most out of this new way of photography is not entirely obvious. It is easy to lose yourself in how fun it is to fly or how high/far away you can get.
With these tips and best drones under $200 in 2024 which you can find on Aerofly Drones, you will seriously be able to start using the full potential of a photography drone.
If you are really interested in buying a drone I’d suggest to go for a rental at first from any reputed website like FriendWithA.com. Only in this way you can get a real hands on review about the drone models you have in mind.
1. Plan your photography with a map service
Satellite imagery in the Map app on your phone or in the Google Earth application is incredibly useful when you want to find inspiration or motives for your drone photography.
Take a look in your immediate area already and see if you find exciting buildings, formations, or textures that you could use.
2. Do not spend too much time with the camera settings
When a camera is very far from its subject and additionally mounted on an electronically stabilized so-called gimbal, it is no longer as important to have just the right aperture and shutter speed. The depth of field will be sufficient and usually, there are no problems with shutter speeds up to half a second or so. Rather spend time composing your image nicely.
3. Photograph lonely roads
The lone road is a great motif for the drone. Preferably from above with the camera pointed straight down. Choose a road with an environment that is not too cluttered, such as only trees or grass.
4. Compose with the height
The biggest difference between shooting with a camera in your hand and with a drone is that you are not limited by your own height in height. Use the height actively and always test how your designs look from different heights.
5. Photograph long shadows
At sunrise and sunset, the sun is low. Then long shadows are formed on open surfaces that you can advantageously use in your pictures. A big shadow from a small person in a big landscape is a cool motif.
6. Photograph abstract patterns
There are unexpected patterns and textures everywhere in the environment. Cliffs, sea bottoms, fields, or discoloration can be interesting motifs. Pick up your inner Jackson Pollock and try abstract photography.
Challenge yourself by looking for abstract motives for different emotions. Joy, love, anger, confusion, and so on.
7. Shoot with long shutter speeds
Since drones are often both stabilized with the drone body itself and a special stabilizer gimbal for the camera, they are ideal for shooting slightly longer shutter speeds. However, the images are easily overexposed and you will then need ND filters for your camera. Try to buy one and take pictures with long shutter speeds on subjects with moving water.
8. Get great dynamic range with HDR
Often there is a built-in feature in drones to shoot for HDR or bracketing. Find the feature and shoot a landscape image with the sky. Put the pictures together in Lightroom or Photoshop and discover what fantastic tonal quality it can provide.
9. Separate your designs against the background
It’s easy for your photos to get a little messy when shooting with drones. Often, the best images have a clear main subject. The house, person, or wedding party disappears easily in a sea of details.
Practice separating the main subject from the background, for example with color, light, or texture.
10. Take pictures for a panorama
Panorama is a little secret with incredibly useful technology for photography with drones. It involves taking several overlapping pictures that together form a giant image.
It helps you both when you want a large print with a high level of detail but also when you wish your drone camera had a more wide-angle lens.
All these tips I explain in detail with sample pictures in my drone photography video course. Look at it and take your drone photography to new heights!
11. Don’t just think out loud
When flying with your drone, you should not only think as high as possible. This is the first thing to do when putting the remote control in your hands, to increase the craft as high as possible. Of course, it is fun with great views of the landscape. However, keep in mind that the drone can help you access places that may be difficult to photograph otherwise. For example, over a lake, off a cliff, or over an extensive field. In other words, it is not just loud that applies to a drone.
12. Tilt downwards but also vertically
Several of you have probably seen drone images as “titles” downwards. It usually becomes very effective so use this method. However, do not forget to photograph the landscape with the horizon vertically in the image to get several different perspectives on the landscape.
13. Use bracketing
One problem you face when it comes to producing images from a drone is the small sensor. Although today there are high-resolution cameras on more expensive drones, the consumer drones have not quite reached it yet, although they are a good way to go! If you don’t want to buy a more expensive drone, you have to settle for a 12-megapixel sensor on the built-in camera. Using these 12 megapixels correctly, however, you have no explanation for being able to create amazing images that hold for larger prints.
One of the technical prerequisites in the finishing process for creating good drone images is that you have photographed in bracketing mode on the drone. That is, in order to create a highly dynamic image.
Take a course!
Do you have high-flying plans for your landscape photography? Why not test another perspective? I offer private courses in drone flying and finishing of drone images. Among other things, I focus the private courses in drone flying around:
- Know and label (where do I actually fly?)
- Review of the best apps to fly your drone.
- Composition, bracketing, light.
- We fly drones in practice.
- We go through all the possibilities for automatic program modes.
- Finishing your drone images.
- And much more.
Kim Marks 
Nicola Holder