3 Fall Foliage Collage (Light Painting)

[Chrislaf]

A collage of some of my Fall light paintings all done on a Phantom 3 Standard. Where I live Fall is one of the most beautiful seasons with leaves turning red, orange, brown, yellow, and all shades in between. The colours are so vibrant that visitors from all over come to the area when the leaves are at their peak. This fall has been unseasonably warm and the leaves turned later this year, but it made for beautiful walks along bush trails.

Chris

 

[Cymruflyer]

Those are great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bad Santa]

Those are awesome.

Those are obviously not freehand.
Is there a program that does this as waypoints?

 

[Talldiver]

Beautiful as usual!!

 

[Chrislaf]

Those are awesome.

Those are obviously not freehand.
Is there a program that does this as waypoints?

These would not be possible without using @DJ Wes's Litchi Mission Utilities. These were created using Litchi and Wes's SVG to Litchi Converter, his Remove Close Waypoints Utility, and Mission Rotator.

I have been doing Light Painting for a few years but before Wes's Mission Utilities, they were mostly spirals and orbits done using Dronelink. I did briefly use Hammer Missions which for a time had a basic light painting option that I used to create stars and some other basic shapes but it was difficult to use and the results were nothing like what can be achieved using Litchi Mission Utilities.

I also use my Mini 3 Pro and Litchi Pilot to do light paintings but the lights I use for it are only white.

Other current drones that have the ability to use waypoints can also be used with Wes's Litchi to DJI Fly Waypoints converter. Another member on here @RAC DJI is using his Mavic 3 Pro with excellent results. Check out his threads on here if you haven't already done so.

Chris

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

Chris, these are amazing! You’re an aerial artiste

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

What is the learning curve like to create these images?

 

[RAC DJI]

A collage of some of my Fall light paintings all done on a Phantom 3 Standard. Where I live Fall is one of the most beautiful seasons with leaves turning red, orange, brown, yellow, and all shades in between. The colours are so vibrant that visitors from all over come to the area when the leaves are at their peak. This fall has been unseasonably warm and the leaves turned later this year, but it made for beautiful walks along bush trails.

Chris

View attachment 178925

Nice ones Chris, fall is finished around here so I’m shifting to winter. Going to design some Christmas missions and wait until the lake freezes over. (Won’t have to wait long here. lol)

 

[Chrislaf]

What is the learning curve like to create these images?

Basically, it's a bit of trial and error but once you understand the process it is not difficult thanks to Wes's utilities.

It starts with searching for suitable images then using Wes's utilities to prepare them for the waypoint mission. The drone then flies the path and you use a camera on a tripod to take a long exposure.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Nice ones Chris, fall is finished around here so I’m shifting to winter. Going to design some Christmas missions and wait until the lake freezes over. (Won’t have to wait long here. lol)

Same here. Most leaves have fallen off trees now.

The three lakes in the area where I live used to freeze up before Christmas, but the last few years it has been late January or early February. Last year was the same and we barely had any snow for any length of time.

I'm working on some Christmas missions too. I have one ready to go but am also getting others queued up. I probably won't wait for the lake to freeze over.

Chris

 

[GFields]

Awesome shots!

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

Basically, it's a bit of trial and error but once you understand the process it is not difficult thanks to Wes's utilities.

It starts with searching for suitable images then using Wes's utilities to prepare them for the waypoint mission. The drone then flies the path and you use a camera on a tripod to take a long exposure.

Chris

Thanks. I plan to spend time on learning this process

 

[BaldyBoyBilly]

Thanks. I plan to spend time on learning this process

Quick question…have you tried using a second drone to capture the long exposure?

 

[Chrislaf]

Quick question…have you tried using a second drone to capture the long exposure?

No. The max time you can have the shutter open on most drones is 8 seconds which is way too short for light painting. Also, although a drone like the Mavic 3 has powerful motors it would still move around resulting in a blurry photo.

The acorn in the collage was shot at 15mm, ISO 100, f14, 524s and the camera was on a tripod. The exposure was triggered with a remote shutter release as soon as the drone started the acorn and stopped as soon as it finished.

Also, in Canada it would be illegal for me to be operating two drones at the same time.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Thanks. I plan to spend time on learning this process

It’s definitely rewarding to see a drone draw a complex picture in the sky and capture it with a long exposure.

What drone do you plan on using? If you are using a drone that uses DJI Fly waypoints then there is a few extra steps involved in converting the file for use in DJI Fly.

Chris