1
THINKOFDRONESASTTOOLS:Adroneis a
camerathatflies– it’sa specialandpowerful
tool– thisis howyoushouldthinkaboutitfirst
andforemost.It’snota helicopterreplacement,
so aimlessflyinguphighis extremelyboringto
watchin videos.2
FLY LOWANDSTEADILY:Yes,dronescanfly
highandfast,butthebestfootageis often
madeupofslowandcontrolledshotsthatare
lowtotheground.Shootingin Tripodmode
slowsthedroneandmakesitlessresponsive,so
movementsaren’t asjerky.3
USE MOVEMENTTMOTIVAION:Thereneeds
to bea reasonforthedronetobemoving- thisis calledmotivationandcouldinvolvea
person,a caroranythingthatdrivesthat
movement.Unmotivatedmovementisfineat
times,butthebestdroneshotsarethe onesthat
aremovingfora reason.
4
COMBINEFOOTTAGE:Usedronefootage as
partofa sequence.Forexample,youhave
yourcharacterwalkingalongthebeachshot
handheld, andthencuttingtoa wide-angle
dronetrackingshotofthecharacterwouldadda
lottothe sequence.5
CONSIDERSHOTTLENGTH:Thinkaboutthe
lengthoftheshot;toomanydroneshotsgo
onforwaytoolong.Theexactlengthultimately
dependsonwhatyou’refilming, buta shorter
videois morelikely tobe usedin anedit thanone
lasting 30 -secondsormore.6
USETRADITIONALCAMERAMOVEMENTS:
Usethedronetoreplicatetraditionalcamera
movementssuchasthoseofa dolly,jiband
crane.Hiringthesedevicesis expensiveandfor
somelocations,thelogisticsofgettingthemto
wherethey’reneededcouldbedifficult oreven
impossible, soadroneis anidealsolution.7
FINDUNIQUEPERSPECTIVES:Thedrone
doesn’talways havetomove.A staticshot
fromananglenotpossibleanyotherwayhasa
lotofpower.Forinstance,youcanhovera drone
overdeepwaterandcaptureshotsthatdon't
requiretheuseofanyotherequipment.8
DEFINEYOUR SHOTS:Endlessflyingshots
withnodefinitionareextremelyhardtouse
in anedit.Everyshotshouldhaveabeginning,
middle andend, andeachshotshouldshow
somethingratherthanbeingincludedsimply
becauseyoucangetthat shot.9
TELLASTTORY:Usea droneif it helps totell
yourstory,orhelpsyoutogeta shotyou
couldn’totherwise– theyshouldbeusedto
enhanceyourvideos,nottodefinethem.The
powerofdroneshots,whenit comestoediting,
is tonotoverusethem.1 0
TRYFLYINGBACKWARDSMORE:Areveal
shotis waymoreinterestingthana shotof
adronegettingclosertosomething– a simple
examplewouldbea shotofsomeoneworkingin
afield.Youfly in closer,whichis niceasyouget
to seemoredetail,butabettershotwouldbe to
startwiththefarmerbehindthedroneandyou
slowlymovethedronebackacrossthefieldto
revealthefarmer.Thisis thereveal.PHILIP’S TOP TEN DRONE TIPS
January 2020 DigitalSLR Photography 93
Howcanyoumakedronefootagelook
evenmoreimpressive?Mostofmyflyingis
donein TripodMode.TheonlytimeI’mout
ofTripodModeis ifI needtogetsome
faster-movingvistas,butforanyofthereally
controlledstuffI’mprettymuchalwaysin
TripodMode.Ithinkthe shotsthat always
havethe'wow'factorarethosewherethe
dronefliesthrough something. Without
question,whenyouhavethat yougetthe
'wow'factorandif it’sa reveal(ofa subject)
it’s evenmorepowerful.
Anothergreattipis toaddsoundto
videos.Youcanneverhavesoundin(drone)
video,soIalways recommendaddingreal
soundstoit.Oftenyoucanuseresources
onlinetodownloadsoundeffectsbut for
naturalambientnoisesfromwhereyouare,
justgetyourphoneout,stickitin voice
memomodeandrecordsomeaudio–that’s
agoodstart.Butyoucanfindsomanythings
online,a greatresourceisfreesound.org,
whichis aCreativeCommonssoundlibrary,
andyou’llfindeverythingonthere.Adding
soundsthiswaylifts the qualityof your
dronefootage.
Whatarethemainchallengesofdrone
videography?In a waythis touchesonthe
safetyaspectsaswhenyoufirststartout
the challengeis gettingpastthe over-
confidencethetechnologygivesyou.
Youneedtoknowwhat’sachievablebut
withouttakingrisks.It's easytobecomea
little ambitiouswhenthingsareworkingwell
becausethedroneis soclever,butthat’s
whenthings willgo wrong. It'slearningthat
lessis morewhenit comestodronesand
thatthepowerofdronesisn’tin thebigcrazy
shots,butin simple controlledmoves.
Theotheraspectis thatlegallyyou’re
supposedtolookat thedrone.Howcanyou
possiblycomposea shotifyou’relookingat
thedrone– youcan’t. Themomentyou
lookawayfromit,youlookbackupandit
isn’t thereanymore.It doesn’t havetogo
veryfarfromyouandit’ssosmallyoucan’t
seeit, sothe main challengeisbeingable to
get nicecontrolledshotswhile maintaining
visuallineofsight,andtodothatis tonotfly
toofaraway. Formybestshots,I’mright
behindthedrone– I’m almostwalking
backwards with it, but I’m really close.DRONESENHANCE MYWORKONCERTAINJOBSBECAUSE ITGIVESME
SHOTSYOUCOULDN’TGET ANYOTHER WAY, A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVEEssentialGuid