We finally had some snow that could be measured in depth, rather than just length, though the depth was minimal. Size does matter with snow fall, but I'm happy just see a white covering, I miss the snow, having lived in the Austrian Alps for a number of years, which by the way, is having an amazing winter snow fall right now.
Anyway, I digress. I asked permission from her indoors, she hates that so I shall say my wife, if I could quickly go out and get a few bits of film and stills at our local park about 5 mins. away, if I brought her tea in bed and gave the children breakfast. She agreed, so an hour after I had hoped to get out there, I was off. It was a bit on the cold side for no gloves, about 26f, though I did not intend to be out too long.
I took a square of wood floor tile along, to use as a launch/landing pad, set it all up in the warmth of the car, got out and took off. The sun came out, which I was hoping to avoid, because from a photographic point of view, what I was hoping to accomplish was to get flat light images of the black lines of the trees against the white snow. As it turned out, the sun helped to give some added interest, with the long shadows.
There was also a large gaggle of Canada Geese, not Canadian, as sooo many people wrongly call them, all in the middle of open ground near by. I thought, it might make an interesting shot right above them, with the long shadows showing them as silhouettes on the ground. I'd keep high enough not to scare them into flight. I was in the air working out which way would be best to fly to get over them, when something scared them into all taking off. Darn it all I thought, now they may not come back and land, but a quick prayer to the geese Gods had them circling back around and on the first pass I missed them, trying to get the camera tilt angle right and the position of the Mavic 2, plus trying to judge my height and theirs, in order to get things correct.
I thought I might try and follow them, but that was not working too well with trees being in the way a bit and I did not want to lose sight of the Mavic. So I flew back above me (for your drone police, and I am sometimes one myself, I did have permission to fly above myself) and waited to see if they might come back around, which they did. Then a miracle happened and they flew right over my head and I got some shots off and hoped for the best. Since it was all happening so fast, I could not look at the screen but just hoped I might get something out of it.
It was getting rather cold with no gloves and I decided to get a few quick shots of the trees and the lake shore, then get back and land before I had a low battery warning. I took a number of photos and have included one here, or maybe two, I have not decided yet. I have included several from the geese though, because when I got home and took a look, I was extremely pleasantly surprised to see that I could not have positioned myself more perfectly and the geese could not have done a better job of formation flying, if an Air Force had choreographed it. My height and their height was perfect, for my liking anyway. It would have been nice if I could have had a clear earth with some trees below but I shall settle for the edge of the car park. That is me down below (middle to lower centre) next to my vehicle.
It was well worth getting up early and braving the cold, even without gloves. I doubt if I shall ever get another set of images like these unless I stuff some geese and stick them on poles. Can't wait for more snow to come. Now I'm going to be told off for staying up so late!
Anyway, I digress. I asked permission from her indoors, she hates that so I shall say my wife, if I could quickly go out and get a few bits of film and stills at our local park about 5 mins. away, if I brought her tea in bed and gave the children breakfast. She agreed, so an hour after I had hoped to get out there, I was off. It was a bit on the cold side for no gloves, about 26f, though I did not intend to be out too long.
I took a square of wood floor tile along, to use as a launch/landing pad, set it all up in the warmth of the car, got out and took off. The sun came out, which I was hoping to avoid, because from a photographic point of view, what I was hoping to accomplish was to get flat light images of the black lines of the trees against the white snow. As it turned out, the sun helped to give some added interest, with the long shadows.
There was also a large gaggle of Canada Geese, not Canadian, as sooo many people wrongly call them, all in the middle of open ground near by. I thought, it might make an interesting shot right above them, with the long shadows showing them as silhouettes on the ground. I'd keep high enough not to scare them into flight. I was in the air working out which way would be best to fly to get over them, when something scared them into all taking off. Darn it all I thought, now they may not come back and land, but a quick prayer to the geese Gods had them circling back around and on the first pass I missed them, trying to get the camera tilt angle right and the position of the Mavic 2, plus trying to judge my height and theirs, in order to get things correct.
I thought I might try and follow them, but that was not working too well with trees being in the way a bit and I did not want to lose sight of the Mavic. So I flew back above me (for your drone police, and I am sometimes one myself, I did have permission to fly above myself) and waited to see if they might come back around, which they did. Then a miracle happened and they flew right over my head and I got some shots off and hoped for the best. Since it was all happening so fast, I could not look at the screen but just hoped I might get something out of it.
It was getting rather cold with no gloves and I decided to get a few quick shots of the trees and the lake shore, then get back and land before I had a low battery warning. I took a number of photos and have included one here, or maybe two, I have not decided yet. I have included several from the geese though, because when I got home and took a look, I was extremely pleasantly surprised to see that I could not have positioned myself more perfectly and the geese could not have done a better job of formation flying, if an Air Force had choreographed it. My height and their height was perfect, for my liking anyway. It would have been nice if I could have had a clear earth with some trees below but I shall settle for the edge of the car park. That is me down below (middle to lower centre) next to my vehicle.
It was well worth getting up early and braving the cold, even without gloves. I doubt if I shall ever get another set of images like these unless I stuff some geese and stick them on poles. Can't wait for more snow to come. Now I'm going to be told off for staying up so late!
