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How do You Take Good Aerial Photos?

How do You Take Good Aerial Photos?

Using drones, you can get up high to take real estate drone photography shots, shoot aerial beach photography while on vacation and even shoot weddings, photograph landscapes, and cityscapes. Or, you can even take drone videography of yourself from the air. We’re going to help you make the most out of your next aerial photo shoot with some drone photography tips!

RAW is the Key
Almost every single professional photographer will tell you that the best way to shoot is in RAW format. They always shoot in RAW in order to be able to correct any flaws in exposure or color with greater precision. This is even more applicable to drone photography. Since the camera resolution is only 12MP, it would be a crime to compress it into the .jpg format and not use the advantages of the RAW format. Even if you only shoot aerial photography for fun, you might one day capture the-best-drone-photo-ever. How disappointing when you realize you won’t be able to process it properly because you’ve been sticking to the compressed .jpg format?


Bracketing is the King
This is a really awesome feature the DJI Mavic Air from Beachcamera.com has. It comes in especially handy for real estate drone photography. Bracketing serves a few purposes. If you make a mistake in assessing the correct exposure, you can choose the right one from 3 to 5 bracketed photos you’ve taken. You can also use them to create HDR images of your real estate drone photography. If your shots are bracketed shots, you can bring shadows back later or bring out highlights even more if necessary. This is better than having only one option from a single shot of your real estate drone photography.

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Auto and Manual Mode
You should almost always shoot in Manual mode. This lets you choose the lowest possible ISO as well as the shutter speed you desire. The DJI app doesn’t let you know if you have over or under-exposed your picture like a traditional camera would. There’s also no half-released shutter button. So you would need to rely on histogram or use this trick: First, switch to P mode and see what DJI auto mode is offering you, then switch back to M and build on what you saw in P mode.

ISO, How Low Can You Go
The advice on this subject is simple: always shoot at the lowest possible ISO, which happens to be 100 on DJI Phantom 4 Pro from Beachcamera.com. This lets you minimize the noise in your photos, plain and simple. Of course, you need to be aware of shake when shooting at night. It’s not recommend to go over 3-second exposure. If you end up needing a longer exposure, try going higher on your ISO in order to stay in that 3-second range.

ND Filters
In order to get a cinematic effect on an aerial beach photography shoot, you should use double of the fps you are shooting with. In order to achieve that on a bright day when shooting aerial beach photography, you need to use Neutral Density filters to reduce the light coming into the camera and enable a slower shutter speed. You’ll use it mostly for videos because it’s too complicated to use for photos. If you’re going to use ND filters, be careful in dim lighting. The ND filter reduces the light coming into the camera, which slows down your shutter to the point where you might start getting some shake in your shots. In low light, stick to a default camera filter that is supplied with the drone’s camera.

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Post-Processing
Whether shooting real estate drone photography, aerial beach photography or any other type of aerial photography, don’t share unprocessed shots straight out of camera. There’s always room for improvement in any photos by a drone you take. You’ll be amazed how photos by a drone can be transformed in your favorite post-processing software like Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

Be Creative
With drone photography, you’re no longer plagued by the inability to use the right spot in the right location. Drones are unique in the sense that they can take your photographs literally to the next level. So stop thinking in traditional terms- experiment, be open to the new shooting possibilities drones open up for you like shooting unique angles, panoramas, and long exposures. Make sure you allow plenty of time to let your creative juices flow by always packing extra batteries!

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These drone photography tips are simple to understand and easy to implement. With a little practice along with the best drone for aerial photography, you’ll become an expert drone photographer with a great eye for the best aerial angles, perspectives and camera settings.

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