April is flying by so I thought I would get in with a blog post before the month is out as I have been very busy this month. It has bought Sunshine by the bucket load as well as a new addition to my camera gear (more on that later). Before we get to that, I was off to Bath to Prior park, designed by John Wood and built in the 1730’s and 1740’s for a walk in the spring sunshine.

After walking around the grounds, we stopped for an impromptu portrait session by the bridge (see above). Edie acted as my muse for the day, so I used this very rare opportunity of having someone willing to stand in front of the camera for me, to practice some portraiture.

I kept the 24-70mm F2.8 on the tripod, and used an aperture of 2.8 to blur out the background, while keeping the shutter speed up to keep her in focus. We then took it in turns in front of the camera, trying to capture the illusive ‘real smile’.

To me/most of the human race, Edie is very photogenic so when I sent over some of my favorite images to her that I had edited later that day, I was assuming she would like the ones I had selected. I was clearly wrong with this assumption (I guess its a guy thing), so I sent her all the images unedited, and let her pick her own favorites and edit them herself….

Below are the two that I selected and edited with a black and white (cant go wrong), and a colour edit:

And below are the two Edie edited herself (i’m assuming on her phone):

She picked two different images and went with a much warmer colour pallet which I actually really liked. This made me think, do I know what makes a good portrait? or is this a case of someone not liking the photos taken and are picking what they think is the best of a bad lot? its a bit of a head fuck and is down to the individual. portraits are an area I would love to spend more time doing and working on, but getting a willing participant is like finding water in the desert…..

This then got me thinking about other images away from portraiture that I have taken In the past which I could have edited differently, or chosen a slightly different perspective or crop. An example of this is below, taken in the mendips of a lone tree stood in a field.

Image 1 is cropped into further, slightly different camera position, with less colour and definition to the stormy sky above. I was happy with the edit at first, but then tried to look at the image again through different eyes and asked for a second opinion to see if it could be ‘improved’.

Image 2 takes out the crop entirely, a readjustment of the camera angle and no cropping. This Meant that more of the sky, and the starkness of the landscape around the focal point of the tree and wall is seen.

I am not saying one is right and one is wrong, as with Edie’s portraits, it is all personal preference, but it just highlighted how personal photography is to the individual, and that asking, taking on board and accepting a second opinion on an image is a great way to keep both myself and a client happy, particularly when shooting portraits.

And now, onto the main event of this blog….

The new acquisition of a DJI Mavic 2 drone to be precise. I have been looking at getting a drone since January 2018, when I got to see one being used in action over and around the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol, on a very cold gray day. I said at the time that I would have loved to have had one but as the drone was mainly for video work, it was not something that I could warrant or indeed envisage myself using all that often. This all changed when the Mavic PRO 2 came out. Finally the camera being used was up to the standard I required for shooting proper sell-able Arial photographs. It was time to take the leap….

There were a few requirements I was looking for with a drone that the Mavic PRO 2 was getting right. Its portable, its small and crucially It has a 20 mega pixel fully manual camera that would be able to take DSLR quality images that is now not stuck at F/2.8.

Below are the main improvements that have been made from the original Mavic pro:

Taking off for the first time was the most apprehensive thing I have done in ages, and it is a little loud when it first gets into the air which makes anyone nearby take notice. I took the drone up and around my house and have spent the majority of my time learning about how it moves and getting used to both flying and photographing at the same time.

First Impressions:

I have been blown away by the ease of use, and the compact size of the drone. it easily folds away into my camera bag and can go anywhere along with my usual camera gear. The drone ‘Return to home’ option the drone has, takes a lot of the stress of flying/landing the drone away from you and it is a joy to guide around once up in the sky.

The perspective it gives you once up there just does not get old either and as I began to relax, I was able to really appreciate the perspective it can give you that no other form of photography can. Not to mention the ideas now bubbling away in my head.

Cons:

One downside that I immediately noticed was the lack of time I had in the sky. At around 20 mins before I started to get a sweat on and bought the drone home. With the battery on my now aging phone also being a problem, there was a lot of batteries that needed watching at any one time. The drone battery itself does of course have a short life before it requires charging and at £125 a pop, an additional battery will have to wait, but the addition of maybe one or 2 more of these over time, and a new phone will dramatically decrease the impact this issue currently has on me.

In Practice:

After just one flight I was able to take the drone off ‘Beginner mode’ as my confidence grew with piloting it. Now I was getting the flying side of things down, I was able to play with the camera more and more. As the drone felt so stable I was able to begin playing more with the settings. The first Issue i encountered was getting the drones camera to face directly down. But once this was mastered I was free to start picking my shots and adjusting the fully manual camera according to my needs and conditions. I also adjusted the height (1600ft Max) and the distance (8000ft) to as far as I could go, so I could really push the drone to its limits right off the bat.

Now that I was more confident in the overall driving of the drone, I was starting to zone in on what I wanted to capture, and get the images sharp, and in full focus. I was keeping the ISO at 100 And pushing the adjustable F stop up to or around F/11 in the strong sunlight.

The sort of shots that I have been very interested in getting have been the face down, vertical images of landmarks, natural shapes and colours that would be overlooked or unseen from ground level. I was particularly happy to see the quality of image I was getting once I started to get my eye in, and the amazing textures, shapes and colours that this perspective provides for you.

Below are some early examples of the type of images that I will be looking to find more of in the coming months.

Conclusion:

To conclude, the drone has so far exceeded expectations over the short time I have been working with it even with its short battery life. its compact design, great quality camera, and ease of use has bought a new dynamic and creativity to my work, with a view for it to be used in the near future for the commercial side of my photography. Weddings will be a priority as it will add another string to my bow and hopefully some prints in the near future will come from it. In the meantime it is providing an exciting new perspective of landscapes which has got me excited for what I will be able to capture with it in the future.

From images taken 1600ft up in the sky, to a little closer to the ground. I finish this April blog with some Images taken of the smaller things that have caught my eye over the past month. Even with the sweeping vistas, top down views, portraits and landscapes taken this month, I always love to include some more close up work, with even the seaweed from the beach making an appearance.

FIN