Foreground interest in aerial photography!

[landmark orbiter]

Hi

One of things that one inherently doesn’t easily have is a foreground to add depth and can leave footage looking flat, even on an otherwise amazing scene.

Is there anyway around this, or should it be one of the accepted drawbacks and is made up for the by the bird-eye view?

I mean you could just get nearer the ground, but then this is taking away from aerial view! Maybe there’s a certain pitch that works better than others?

I’d love to know any tips you have.

 

[MA2 317]

I have used structures like a smoke stack, cell tower, or a water tower in the foreground to give the images some depth.

Not a lot to choose from in some places.
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[rjwmorrell]

Hi

One of things that one inherently doesn’t easily have in the sky is a foreground to add depth and can leave footage looking flat, even on an otherwise amazing scene.

Is there anyway around this, or should it be one of the accepted drawbacks and is made up for the by the bird-eye view?

I mean you could just get nearer the ground, but then this is taking away from aerial view! Maybe there’s a certain pitch that works better than others?

I’d love to know any tips you have.

In my humble opinion, I don't think you need a foreground and your goal shouldn't be to showcase a foreground and background.

Your goal should be to shoot a subject, and if necessary, give it perspectove/context/highlight through including a background or setting where possible.

In landscape photography, you very often don't have a foreground. But you should have a subject. Think of a picture of Mt Fuji. It stands on its own as a subject, the main feature of the picture, and because of its shape and symmetry, it's almost always in the centre of a photo where it is the subject, no background contrast needed.

For drone photography and videography, it's great obviously if you can include foreground elements, and especially if they are used to introduce or reveal a subject. But if I am say taking a top-down picture of a property, then that is the foreground. I fill the frame with it. In one video, I did a top down shot with a slight rotation above a traffic circle/roundabout, and was completed on the shot. There's no foreground/background, there's a traffic circle in the middle of the screen. The rotation and moving cars around it made it an interesting clip.

My advice is get creative, fill the frame with your subject, and don't limit yourself to rules like foreground/background, rule of 3rds etc. They're more likely guidelines.

 

[landmark orbiter]

Thanks, this is what I was thinking - that the aerial aspect mitigates the usual “rules”. I personally love those top down shots as they are so far removed from what we humans normally see.

 

[JimSteadman]

Back to your original question, I think you can occasionally include a foreground image to give depth. Here is one I shot last week. I think I need to get higher and do it again to really get what you are looking for, but to your point, it can be done effectively.

 

[SethB]

…I mean you could just get nearer the ground, but then this is taking away from aerial view! Maybe there’s a certain pitch that works better than others?…

All the suggestions above are great! Also…

There are many times I do fly lower than some would.

Depending on the subject:
Try a -45deg pitch on the camera.
Display the rule of thirds grid and put the sky in the top third.
Look also for subject and background opportunities.

For video, it’s really subject and background that can get you some impressive parallax effects with camera movement.

 

[MA2 317]

I’d love to know any tips you have.

I don't know how to do it, but if you are good with photoshop or similar software, learn how to do tilt shift photography.

tilt shift photography - Google Search

The results are pretty cool.

Here's some chatter about it on the Forum.

Search results for query: tilt shift

mavicpilots.com

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