I remember many years ago as a general aviation pilot I was asked a few times by photographers to fly them above some property for which they were hired to get aerial photos. I would fly as low as I could legally fly and the photographer would open his window and shoot away. It was fun and allowed me some unusual flying experiences.
Today, aerial photography can be accomplished by almost anyone who owns and operates today’s drones. These mini flying machines are miraculously accurate, easy to fly, and take stunning photographs. A person needs no photography knowledge or even aeronautical knowledge to operate a drone. But there are some caveats to this. Drone pilots need to understand there are rules and regulations for this type of aviation activity just as there are for pilots flying on board aircraft.
The FAA governs and regulates all flying in the United States from the ground up to the heavens, and those regulations now include drones. There are recreational rules as well as commercial rules, and pilots must know what these rules entail. FAA drone authorization is absolutely required when flying near many airports, and will often be granted only if the pilot has earned a commercial drone certification. And regardless of the license held by the drone pilot, a ceiling of 400’ above ground level must be observed.
While anyone can shoot pictures from a drone, that doesn’t mean the photos they take are automatically great photos. A ground based photographer adheres to certain shooting principles, such as good composition, exposure settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO), and good lighting in order to capture photos that please the eye. If the aerial pilot wants to get really good photos, he must adhere to the same principles. Some of the higher end prosumer and professional drones have cameras that can perform bracketing, manual shooting, aperture and shutter speed adjustments, and can shoot in Camera Raw format. And since a drone can hover almost motionless, the pilot photographer is able to precisely set the composition desired, set the exposure, and calmly snap the photo.
In addition, the same on-board camera can shoot very nice video footage. Shooting video, however, is not quite so simple. The pilot must use the two joysticks in coordinated movements in order to get smooth video clips. The joysticks control movements up and down, forward and backward, and side to side. They also spin the drone in a circle left or right. In addition, there is a wheel controlled by a free finger that moves the camera gimbal in an up and down manner. All these movements require great skill to capture video clips that look professional.
With a little practice, a drone pilot can reach a reasonable degree of proficiency in flying, taking nice photos, and getting some impressive video footage. However, obstacle avoidance, battery life and keeping a strong radio frequency connection between drone and controller are just a few other important brain activities that must be maintained while flying to avoid any undesirable mishaps.