First Wedding Video - ALL Drone footage plus Things I Learned

[Pillowmage]

A lot of the shots were handheld, and I wish I could re-do some of them but these events don't give you that chance. At times, I'd move with the drone to simulate motion. I offered to do it for free since I've only shot landscapes with drones (w/ tutorials up on Youtube) but they're a bit easier since they don't move.

I use Premiere Pro for editing.

Maybe next time I can charge something, after I show them this video haha. I find photography hard since every picture has to be perfect. I checked out all the raw photos for my brother's wedding and every single one was amazing. At least for video one can get away with a few bad clips inserted in.

What an amazing piece! That was a big wedding party and a nice mansion. The slow motion walk down the isle was done perfectly. It looked like you were moving it in a flying motion by hand at certain points ? Great job man.

What editing software do you use ?

If you do the paid wedding for a friend, maybe you can just wait to see what you end up with, and then work out something you both agree on since it's a friend ? That's what I did when I started doing little league soccer . I felt weird quoting a price knowing that I was an amateur photographer and had never watched a soccer game. But all it took was 2 Games and I had a system down, now i wish I could up my price to what a pro would charge !

 

[Glennyboy]

Great job and nicely put together. How easy/difficult was it using the drone for filming on foot like holding a camera? I assume you're holding it and moving whilst also trying to watch what you're recording on the rc screen. Must be quite tough. You say it's noisy when filming without flying - in what way?
Anyway, well done and I genuinely think with a product like that you could easily make a few $ next time round. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Pillowmage]

I hold the drone with my right hand and the RC with my left, as I use the left rolling controller thing for gimbal up and down. The battery gets pretty warm, but not hot enough for me to let go. My last 3 main videos have had a lot of handheld footage so I guess I'm a bit more used to it now. There is a little bit of a fan-like sound, I guess? It's not always there, I think it depends on the drone's temperature. It's easy for us to phase out this sound as we're used to how loud our drones are when flying, and I can't exactly recall what is sounds like.

There are also frames that give you something to hold, like this one:
STARTRC 3D Printed Mavic Handheld Gimbal Tray Stabilizer for DJI Mavic pro Drone Accessories

Great job and nicely put together. How easy/difficult was it using the drone for filming on foot like holding a camera? I assume you're holding it and moving whilst also trying to watch what you're recording on the rc screen. Must be quite tough. You say it's noisy when filming without flying - in what way?
Anyway, well done and I genuinely think with a product like that you could easily make a few $ next time round. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jvsoundwave]

Awesome work!!! I have a few threads I use for music. But your right, they are hard to find for sure!!! I subscribed to your YouTube, check mine out as well. Thanks!

 

[k2thiago]

Really impressive! The color balancing and overall edition work is fantastic! The only "glitch" that I've notice was a slight tilt in some scenes, but i suppose that is almost impossible to not have it using the drone as a handheld. Beautiful job!

 

[Pillowmage]

What's your Youtube name? I know some pros talk to the couple about song choice and stuff, but I was doing this for free and they're on their honeymoon so no time to ask haha

Thanks for watching!

Awesome work!!! I have a few threads I use for music. But your right, they are hard to find for sure!!! I subscribed to your YouTube, check mine out as well. Thanks!

 

[Pillowmage]

Yeah, I was hoping DJI to announce a new Osmo at this time so I could pre-order on Day 1! The drone has limitations, but it's about the only thing I got haha. Thanks for checking it out!

Really impressive! The color balancing and overall edition work is fantastic! The only "glitch" that I've notice was a slight tilt in some scenes, but i suppose that is almost impossible to not have it using the drone as a handheld. Beautiful job!

 

[JamieK]

I hold the drone with my right hand and the RC with my left, as I use the left rolling controller thing for gimbal up and down. The battery gets pretty warm, but not hot enough for me to let go. My last 3 main videos have had a lot of handheld footage so I guess I'm a bit more used to it now. There is a little bit of a fan-like sound, I guess? It's not always there, I think it depends on the drone's temperature. It's easy for us to phase out this sound as we're used to how loud our drones are when flying, and I can't exactly recall what is sounds like.

There are also frames that give you something to hold, like this one:
STARTRC 3D Printed Mavic Handheld Gimbal Tray Stabilizer for DJI Mavic pro Drone Accessories

I got the PolarPro Katana to do handheld work. It does a pretty good job of it but you have to switch to wifi to use the Katana.

 

[Pillowmage]

My problem with using wi-fi is with pitching up and down - it goes by steps instead of moving smoothly. I guess you can use your other hand to hold the RC, or even leave it on a table but only if you want to pitch the camera.

I got the PolarPro Katana to do handheld work. It does a pretty good job of it but you have to switch to wifi to use the Katana.

 

[NinjaNut]

So well done!

 

[Pillowmage]

Thanks for giving it a watch!

So well done!

 

[AnneP]

Wow, great video. You captured so many details from the day. I kept thinking how good it was and how rapt your friends would be when you did the fade outs, then there was more and another fade out, then still more. You had the hardest job of the day. Excellent and thanks for sharing. I've just bought a Polar Pro Katana for doing hand held videos, so really enjoyed watching your results.

 

[AAPhoto]

Great job!! You seem to be a natural for this kind of work. Keep it up!

 

[jerryflah]

Hey drone flyers! I tried out my very first wedding video plus it's fully shot by drone. I did it for free as my friend asked me to, but because of that I couldn't really give directions to people as to what I wanted them to do or where to go. I listed the things that I learned and hopefully you'd find them useful! Thanks for watching and congratulations to the couple!

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Things I Learned:
1. Drones can work handheld but may be jittery at times and even over-compensate with it's stabilizer when swinging the drone left to right.
2. I prefer controlling with the RC rather than wi-fi because you really can't pitch up and down smoothly without the RC.
3. Setting up a drone can take time. Swapping ND filters because clouds suddenly cover the sun takes time. Switching to 1080p for 60 or 96fps for slow-mo also takes time.
4. Prop sounds are very audible so choose when you should fly, preferably before the ceremony or after.
5. Drones make sounds too when handheld and running. I didn't want to bother any of the guests so I kept away if I could.
6. Finding free wedding songs is somewhat impossible. Any sites would be welcome!
7. I don't have close-ups during the actual wedding because I wasn't getting paid and felt bad for getting in there.
8. Working solo can get you to miss stuff that happen only once in a wedding. I had to drive to where the bride was prepping, then the groom, then back to the bride, straight to the venue, etc. so it was a lot of work.
9. I was starving and really had to pee the whole time. I kept holding it in because I would have missed some shots.
10. My positioning could have been better, but I didn't want to go where the professional photographers were hanging around in.
11. I enjoyed doing this wedding and am sure I can do a better job next time!

Outstanding. Nice professional touches. Editing is really professional looking.

 

[ThisIsCusel]

Nicely done! In the states you will need a part 107 license to shoot a wedding professionally. You would also need a waiver to fly over people, if you want to play it by the book. Good things to keep in mind.

P.S. if you want any chance of that waiver, you better order the prop cages, as you have to propose a well thought out plan to mitigate risk to the bystanders (guests)

 

[Pillowmage]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Honestly, I think I was fortunate they didn't hire a pro videographer as that might have changed some things. Maybe not the hardest, but I was definitely the hungriest there!

The Katana would be perfect for this stuff, minus my personal gripe with incremental pitching up and down of the camera when connected through wi-fi. I will still opt to use the RC just for the pitching. The great thing about the Mavic is it's stabilized 4k video for a really decent price. A DSLR, even one that doesn't shoot 4k, plus a Ronin-M would be way more expensive and doesn't fly unless you toss it really high up onto a tree.

Wow, great video. You captured so many details from the day. I kept thinking how good it was and how rapt your friends would be when you did the fade outs, then there was more and another fade out, then still more. You had the hardest job of the day. Excellent and thanks for sharing. I've just bought a Polar Pro Katana for doing hand held videos, so really enjoyed watching your results.

 

[Pillowmage]

I'm glad you liked it! I hope the things I learned helped out too!

Great job!! You seem to be a natural for this kind of work. Keep it up!

 

[Pillowmage]

Thank you, the couple love it too! Thanks for looking into it!

Outstanding. Nice professional touches. Editing is really professional looking.

 

[Pillowmage]

Hello, this was not filmed in the US, but I am somewhat familiar with FAA. I don't know about going pro either, as my career is totally different from this stuff. Either way, I really did enjoy capturing these moments and would love to do more! Thanks for the heads up and info!

Nicely done! In the states you will need a part 107 license to shoot a wedding professionally. You would also need a waiver to fly over people, if you want to play it by the book. Good things to keep in mind.

P.S. if you want any chance of that waiver, you better order the prop cages, as you have to propose a well thought out plan to mitigate risk to the bystanders (guests)

 

[mollyg]

Great job the close up is awesome.