Make your aerial drone landscape photos look better

I remember the first time I flew a drone. It was an old DJI Phantom 2 Vision with a modest 1/2.3" sensor capable of filming at 1080p resolution and capturing 14 megapixel images. When you look at the form factor and general clunkiness of that drone, it's hard not to smile when you see just how far the industry has journeyed since those prehistoric days, especially when you compare it to the Mavic 3 drone line by DJI.

Aerial photography is one of the most creatively rewarding and freeing ways to create photos. It's also one of the more challenging ways to create photos because of all the additional data points that you have to manage and factor in. When you hold your camera to your face or mount it onto your tripod, there isn't much to concern yourself with beyond dialing in your composition and properly exposing the photo. Granted, I'm oversimplifying things to a degree to make my point.

When you're practicing aerial photography with a drone, you are confronted with all sorts of additional information that has to be constantly monitored above and beyond the composition and exposure. Information such as altitude, temperature, wind speed, distance from the marked home point, and battery life all need to be balanced to ensure that your drone not only gets to where it needs to be, but also that it can get back to you.

Fortunately, once you get the hang of what's involved with sending your drone up, everything that follows is a ton of fun. Being able to effectively place your camera hundreds of feet in the air and in just about any direction is an absolute joy. There is so much excitement when you find a composition that you know would be absolutely impossible to get from the ground. It's one of the most effective ways to literally see the world in a whole new perspective.

There are also a number of traps and pitfalls that drone photographers tend to fall into, which is why I created this video. Truth be told, the purpose of this video is as much to help me as it is to help you, because I've fallen into these traps many times before. Fortunately, I've practiced for long enough where I feel comfortable sharing my advice on the subject. And so, I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful!