"5 Quick Beginner Tips for Capturing Photos and Videos with Drones"

Getting started with drones can be super overwhelming. On one hand, you're trying to navigate how to actually fly them, and on the other hand, trying to capture some beautiful images without crashing. That's why I've come up with these five quick tips that I've collected over the last decade of flying drones that will get you from nervous to actually getting some sweet footage. To start off, learning the ins and outs of your drone from a technical standpoint is going to be the most crucial. Here are a few terms that you should be aware of right off the bat, starting with RTH, which is return to home. This is an automatic feature that many modern drones have, and it essentially sends it back to its takeoff point. Line of sight, it's important to keep your drone visible to your eyes at all times while flying. GPS mode is a flight mode where the drone uses satellites to hold the position and stabilize itself. There's also Addy mode on the flip side, which has no GPS stabilization. Remote ID, which is a digital license plate that broadcasts your drone's identification and location. Then we've got yaw, which is rotating the drone from left or right on its vertical axis. Pitch, which is tilting the drone forward or backward. And roll, which is tilting the drone from side to side. And we also have throttle, which controls the altitude and makes the drone go up or down. All right, now that we've gotten those out of the way, let's talk about number two, which is infield practice, once you have those technical specs down. So find an open field away from any airports or restricted parks. And if you're unsure of regulations, you can check apps like Air Control, which can help you identify those regulations based on where you're planning to fly. But the most important thing is getting the initial reps, taking off, flying around an open field, and then landing. That way you can beat the nerves of flying. You can even use modes like the cine mode, which I personally love, and that'll reduce the drone's overall speed for your practice. One feature you want to look for when purchasing a drone is obstacle avoidance. And this uses the drone's sensors to detect nearby objects, the ground as well, and will automatically stop the drone on approach. And remember we mentioned the return to home function as well. It's very important that when you're about to take the drone off, you let the drone properly connect to satellites. So that way it can return to home safely in a scenario where you lose connection to it. This will be indicated on the top of the screen, and you'll also be prompted once it's achieved its RTH point. One neat feature of the Potensic Atom 2 that I also have is it has a dynamic return to home function. So if you're moving large distances while flying the drone, it will update based on the drone's remote's location. All right, jumping into the more camera side, let's dial in your settings. Use a frame rate of 24fps or 30fps. Either one will do, but if you're shooting 24fps, your shutter speed should be around double that. So around 1 over 48th of a second or 1 over 50. If you're shooting 30, then it's 1 over 60. This will give you that natural motion blur and keeps things from looking jittery when you're in the sky. Then you want to Drones have somewhat small sensors and it can introduce noise into your image if you crank the ISO too high. If it's too bright out, you can use ND filters on the lens instead of raising the shutter speed super high, which this kind of acts as sunglasses for your lens. If you're capturing photos, opt for something above 1 over 125th of a second for your shutter speed. And again, keeping your ISO as low as possible. Number four, use simple movements and also try out some of the built-in drone flight modes that can emulate some really cool effects in the sky. So here are a few examples. Ultimately, simple movements, especially when getting started can result in much better video footage on the video side. And you don't need to combine like 10 joystick inputs all at once because it's just going to look a little hectic. So start with one clean movement at a time, a straight push forward, a slow rise, and combine them together into something like an orbit of a centered. And number five, have some fun with your angles. Change the altitude, fly low over textures, try a bird's eye view like a top down shot, which always looks really, really cool. And you can even incorporate some slow gimbal tilts to add depth. My favorite shot is that classic orbiting movement where you're moving the drone laterally left to right while panning to follow the subject. Also, when you fly low, this helps to exaggerate motion. The foreground moves really fast and the background moves slow. And suddenly your footage has a ton of depth, but obviously be careful to not get too close to the ground here. Disclaimer. You can also experiment with some reveals, which is like coming around an obstruction or object to reveal a amazing landscape or lifting over something as well. And honestly, those just, those just never get old. On the photo side, experiment with panoramas, which many drones have built in. I say experiment, I use them all the time. At the end of the day, it's not necessarily about flying the furthest or even the fastest. It's really about being intentional and coming home with some shots to be excited about. So all that to say, if you have any questions about flying drones, let us know down in the comments. My name is Matt, and thanks for watching.