Captured my first sunset and later, first horizontal flight

[Grazuncle]

Don't laugh... Newbie's crawling steps

As I have a limited space and visual line of sight around me, my first few flights have purely been vertical/yaw.... getting some practice in first as to 'where' my Mini 2 will go and how to get it back 'if' I send it in some direction.

However I am seeing for the first time what you guys have seen for years.. a totally new photographic perspective (even just vertically!).. Another thing I have not gotten yet, despite being a former stills photographer, was a sunset.. I looked at the Sunset times here and thought.. Hmmmm I have 10 minutes to unfold, setup the controller and go out and capture the last few minutes left... This is what I got.. It's a crop but i cannot see anything like this from ground level from my location... this scene requires some height to look anything like it.. very pleased. I know you guys can all go out and wing it 'drop of a hat' but I nearly lost the opportunity with my newbieness.

The other thing today.. I finally got the urge to try out not only vertical high up, but horizontal flight.. (again.. don't laugh too much).. I sent it nearly out of vision and when coming back lost the RC.. sure enough after 11 seconds it decided rise up and come back. Fortunately it got reconnected quite quickly but it was not a pleasant experience. I'm guessing the WIFI nest around here is quite prevalent. Still it was great to actually send it somewhere and examine the footage later a leisure..

I lost interest in traditional photography over two years ago and so I traded my camera equipment virtually as a swap for the Mini 2 flymore combo.. I can eventually use my photography skills on the results when I get used to the flying part. I know exactly what I want to get out of the footage.. It's just my flying skills are not there to get it.. yet. Great fun!

end of story

 

[DBT_Drone]

Don't laugh... Newbie's crawling steps

As I have a limited space and visual line of sight around me, my first few flights have purely been vertical/yaw.... getting some practice in first as to 'where' my Mini 2 will go and how to get it back 'if' I send it in some direction.

However I am seeing for the first time what you guys have seen for years.. a totally new photographic perspective (even just vertically!).. Another thing I have not gotten yet, despite being a former stills photographer, was a sunset.. I looked at the Sunset times here and thought.. Hmmmm I have 10 minutes to unfold, setup the controller and go out and capture the last few minutes left... This is what I got.. It's a crop but i cannot see anything like this from ground level from my location... this scene requires some height to look anything like it.. very pleased. I know you guys can all go out and wing it 'drop of a hat' but I nearly lost the opportunity with my newbieness.

The other thing today.. I finally got the urge to try out not only vertical high up, but horizontal flight.. (again.. don't laugh too much).. I sent it nearly out of vision and when coming back lost the RC.. sure enough after 11 seconds it decided rise up and come back. Fortunately it got reconnected quite quickly but it was not a pleasant experience. I'm guessing the WIFI nest around here is quite prevalent. Still it was great to actually send it somewhere and examine the footage later a leisure..

I lost interest in traditional photography over two years ago and so I traded my camera equipment virtually as a swap for the Mini 2 flymore combo.. I can eventually use my photography skills on the results when I get used to the flying part. I know exactly what I want to get out of the footage.. It's just my flying skills are not there to get it.. yet. Great fun!

end of story

Nice work!!! Enjoy that drone!

 

[DJayI]

Don't laugh

I doubt there is any laughter, we all have memories of our first steps. As humans, we all learn by doing.... Well OK, maybe not all, but most of us.?

Nice shot.

 

[Ashjuk]

Like you, Grazuncle, I have been a keen photographer for most of my life but only recently purchased my first drone.

I am taking things very slowly and trying not to run before I can walk, so don't worry there are plenty like you who are still learning the ropes. I'm sure the majority of the crashes we read about on here are a result of the owners trying to push the limits. Personally I prefer to be too cautious and still have an intact drone at the end of the day.

Speaking of the photography aspect they are amazing bits of kit that allow you to get angles not possible on foot. That's a lovely shot of the sunset you have taken - I'm sure you will take many more.

I took my first 360 pano yesterday and was amazed at how easy it was to achieve something different to the average photo.

 

[Grazuncle]

Like you, Grazuncle, I have been a keen photographer for most of my life but only recently purchased my first drone.

I am taking things very slowly and trying not to run before I can walk, so don't worry there are plenty like you who are still learning the ropes. I'm sure the majority of the crashes we read about on here are a result of the owners trying to push the limits. Personally I prefer to be too cautious and still have an intact drone at the end of the day.

Speaking of the photography aspect they are amazing bits of kit that allow you to get angles not possible on foot. That's a lovely shot of the sunset you have taken - I'm sure you will take many more.

I took my first 360 pano yesterday and was amazed at how easy it was to achieve something different to the average photo.
View attachment 126780

Thanks Ashjuk

I'll take a look at you 360 pano

I'm still trying to work out how to apply a colour profile to the DNGs (RAW) The files are generally very low saturation compared to the jpegs as there is no profile applied/assumed. When i had my Nikons and Fujis the software could apply the profile depending on what film simulation you wanted, for effect, and they got pretty close to the jpegs. I don't know how this works with the DJI files.

How are you manipulating them..?

Thanks

 

[THE CYBORG]

Grazuncle We all started off as beginners ​

Sometimes you have to get the Hight.
My Son is a photographer but had to use my drone to get a photograph of a local church, It is impossible to get the church from the ground due to all the yew trees growing around it.
We used two controllers set as master & slave so I could fly to the approximate position he wanted then he could fine tune the framing.

 

[sczebra]

Enjoy the Mini 2 and remember that baby steps are still steps!

 

[Ashjuk]

How are you manipulating them..?

I process the DNG files from the drone with Adobe Camera Raw, I find that gives me a pretty good starting point to finish them off in Photoshop

I see others here use Lightroom to batch process the RAW files, but I have never done that myself so I can't comment on how effective it is.

 

[Grazuncle]

I process the DNG files from the drone with Adobe Camera Raw, I find that gives me a pretty good starting point to finish them off in Photoshop

I see others here use Lightroom to batch process the RAW files, but I have never done that myself so I can't comment on how effective it is.

Thanks for that..

I didn't know if there were some profiles already out there..

I think I'll save a few work flows and then save them as starting points

 

[DBT_Drone]

I process the DNG files from the drone with Adobe Camera Raw, I find that gives me a pretty good starting point to finish them off in Photoshop

I see others here use Lightroom to batch process the RAW files, but I have never done that myself so I can't comment on how effective it is.

You can also use Adobe Bridge to do the batch processing. I use Adobe Camera Raw to make adjustments on the files and then batch process using Bridge to change to JPEG and change the file name.

 

[Kdash]

Like you, Grazuncle, I have been a keen photographer for most of my life but only recently purchased my first drone.

I am taking things very slowly and trying not to run before I can walk, so don't worry there are plenty like you who are still learning the ropes. I'm sure the majority of the crashes we read about on here are a result of the owners trying to push the limits. Personally I prefer to be too cautious and still have an intact drone at the end of the day.

Speaking of the photography aspect they are amazing bits of kit that allow you to get angles not possible on foot. That's a lovely shot of the sunset you have taken - I'm sure you will take many more.

I took my first 360 pano yesterday and was amazed at how easy it was to achieve something different to the average photo.
View attachment 126780

Nice rural planet.

 

[Ashjuk]

Nice rural planet.

Thank you!

 

[Ashjuk]

You can also use Adobe Bridge to do the batch processing. I use Adobe Camera Raw to make adjustments on the files and then batch process using Bridge to change to JPEG and change the file name.

Thanks for that information, I had not realised that Bridge could batch process. I am so used to working with individual files that processing multiple files at once is not something I am familiar with.

Looks like I'm going to have to learn now I have something to create these 360 panos with.

 

[Kdash]

I live on a farm with mountains to the north, going over the mountain is a challenge as I have to climb above a thousand feet,

 

[DBT_Drone]

Thanks for that information, I had not realised that Bridge could batch process. I am so used to working with individual files that processing multiple files at once is not something I am familiar with.

Looks like I'm going to have to learn now I have something to create these 360 panos with.

I saw a YouTube video on how to batch process on Adobe Bridge. Do a Google search to find it. It was a real easy process.

 

[PaulNH]

Don't laugh... Newbie's crawling steps

As I have a limited space and visual line of sight around me, my first few flights have purely been vertical/yaw.... getting some practice in first as to 'where' my Mini 2 will go and how to get it back 'if' I send it in some direction.

However I am seeing for the first time what you guys have seen for years.. a totally new photographic perspective (even just vertically!).. Another thing I have not gotten yet, despite being a former stills photographer, was a sunset.. I looked at the Sunset times here and thought.. Hmmmm I have 10 minutes to unfold, setup the controller and go out and capture the last few minutes left... This is what I got.. It's a crop but i cannot see anything like this from ground level from my location... this scene requires some height to look anything like it.. very pleased. I know you guys can all go out and wing it 'drop of a hat' but I nearly lost the opportunity with my newbieness.

The other thing today.. I finally got the urge to try out not only vertical high up, but horizontal flight.. (again.. don't laugh too much).. I sent it nearly out of vision and when coming back lost the RC.. sure enough after 11 seconds it decided rise up and come back. Fortunately it got reconnected quite quickly but it was not a pleasant experience. I'm guessing the WIFI nest around here is quite prevalent. Still it was great to actually send it somewhere and examine the footage later a leisure..

I lost interest in traditional photography over two years ago and so I traded my camera equipment virtually as a swap for the Mini 2 flymore combo.. I can eventually use my photography skills on the results when I get used to the flying part. I know exactly what I want to get out of the footage.. It's just my flying skills are not there to get it.. yet. Great fun!

end of story

As much as I like to use Google, I find that I have better luck with searching Youtube video's. Batch Processing raw files or even questions about drones. If I were you, I would question "Why the disconnect" and learn from it. I suspect that you lost connection between your controller and drone. This could be caused by trees, thick branches, buildings. Often just rising your drone up in altitude can fix that. I've also learned to watch the "Signal Connection" on the top of the display. When I see those bars dropping I often will rise the drone up a bit higher or see if it's caused by objects interfering with the signal, ie buildings, hills, etc... Very nice Sunset btw !!

 

[shaneb50]

Welcome aboard.hope you enjoy your mini 2 drone. I own both the mini 1 and mini 2 .they are great and take amazing videos.photo quality.enjoy and have fun

 

[Grazuncle]

I need somewhere local with some large expanse to get some skill going.. Presently I'm just angular.. Up down left and right.. Lol

The is much more subtlety of operation than that ?

 

[DJayI]

I need somewhere local with some large expanse to get some skill going.. Presently I'm just angular.. Up down left and right.. Lol

The is much more subtlety of operation than that ?

I am surrounded by trees, fences and structures. I did my initial finess practice in the sky. Started with simple turns and figure eights. I have a long background in RC aircraft, so it may have come a little easier for me as a result.
When turning a drone, or almost any other aircraft, balance or coordination between roll and yaw axis is required. For instance, a left turn needs a little left deflection on both sticks. A right turn needs a little right deflection on both sticks. Because it is a drone, a little forward on the left joystick will also be help for both manuevers if you want to make bigger circles or wider turns. These basic manuevers also help to establish orientation skills, both with the drone heading away from the operator and heading toward(nose-in) the operator.
Some good user orientation tips can be found here.

 

[Grazuncle]

I'll be certain to look that up.. Thanks..

Many YT videos don't go into the finer points.. Well.. from the many I have watched so far