Mini 3 Hill O'Many Staines, Caithness

[AlbionDrones]

The neolithic mysterious Hill O'Many Staines - an interesting site with no real understanding of why it was built...

Small layby next to the road - parking for 2 or 3 cars - and short and relatively flat walk in to the monument. Stones are about 2' tall and white in colour, poking through the heather... Views over the North Sea.

It is exposed, so can be windy and as you can see we got caught in a cuple of showers, but overal an interesting place to try and capture - need to get down low as well as higher up...

 

[macfawlty]

Very interesting and curious site. With each of your unique locales, it forces you to think about what shots and moves you can use to best capture it.
Looks like the wind was bouncing that Mini 3 around quite a bit. A lot of great moves here. A gimbal down corkscrew up and down would have been interesting as well (very slow rotation). I like the gimbal down close up. What I've noticed is that even at the proper frame rates and shutter speeds, you have to move super, super slow or you get jitter and/or motion blur. It would probably be resolved by flying super slow in tripod mode and shooting 60fps @ 1/120. When you initiate a gimbal down move, slow forward progress and increase elevation, otherwise it results in a blurry cut point.
I've always been fascinated with the subtle variations in texture and color with heathlands and tree canopies, most noticeable in gimbal straight down. When the wind is blowing, you can be stationary and just capture the natural movement. Don't forget the forward/back on the POI's. Even a subtle push/pull creates a noticeable parallax.

 

[AlbionDrones]

Yup, it was bouncing around and wet, and as we were with friends time was somewhat limited, take on board the comment on fps, I will try a faster rate in future, but trying to stick with the HDR option on the MINI3 Pro, which is only really available at 30fps, which is what I shot with... Need another larger drone for more bouncy conditions

 

[macfawlty]

Yup, it was bouncing around and wet, and as we were with friends time was somewhat limited, take on board the comment on fps, I will try a faster rate in future, but trying to stick with the HDR option on the MINI3 Pro, which is only really available at 30fps, which is what I shot with... Need another larger drone for more bouncy conditions

Do your friends give you a hard time about spending so much time flying/filming? Always a challenge as a photographer/videographer when traveling with family//friends. How can they complain when you're capturing such excellent footage? Best to preserve the memories on film.
Interesting you shoot in HDR. I have no solid opinion on HDR vs. other formats, but I imagine HDR could be useful when the scene has a wide variety of exposure between ground and sky. Otherwise, I've been using 60fps lately, particularly when there's movement like waves/surf or action. More frames to work with.

 

[AlbionDrones]

Actually, our friends have been very understanding, but I don't want to push my luck, they were with us throughout both the Tnogue and Drumnadrochit trips, and at the start and end of the Orkney trip - plus are coming with us to Skye in October, so got to keep them sweet..

 

[macfawlty]

Place them in your scene interacting with the landscape and features while you’re filming/photographing.

 

[GFields]

Another awesome video!

 

[AlbionDrones]

Another awesome video!

Thanks