The direct downward view obtainable from a drone is a unique aerial viewpoint less easily achieved from a fixed wing aeroplane or helicopter so I thought I would share some more drone photos from this perspective. It opens up a whole range of opportunities for unique views of the landscape within the constraints of the legal operating ceiling of 400 feet and the 28mm equivalent field of view of the lens on the DJI Mavic Pro camera. I really enjoy flying over the landscape looking for interesting shapes and compositions that can be fine tuned by adjusting the position and altitude of the drone.

It still feels a bit like magic to be able to fly while watching a live feed from the camera, find and fine tune a composition, adjust the camera to achieve the correct exposure with a live histogram and then expose an image. The camera can be set to record images in DNG RAW format to maximise the information recorded for subsequent editing. I am still on the very beginning of the learning curve with still images and even further behind with video so am looking forward to learning more and improving.

The other aspect of using the drone is sharing the experience with Paul. He has always been keen on flying models and has a Parrot drone of his own for a few years so we were both excited by the Mavic. With his background in computer gaming he has taken to the controls very naturally and makes flying look very easy. The following is a photo he took and is the best of the bunch I think. As a keen videographer he will no doubt lead the way with using it as a video platform. 

Photos with DJI Mavic Pro shot in DNG RAW format and processed in Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC with  Athentech Perfectly Clear and Macphun Luminar plugins. To date Macphun has been Mac only but the free public Beta of the windows version of Luminar has been released so it will soon be available for Windows users.