Need Shot Ideas

[AFAngryWarrior]

I'm still learning drone photography / videography. I've been going to events and taking photos/videos for personal use as a way to learn. I want to take a video of my local church one evening when no one is there (since I can't fly over people or vehicles) until I get my license and insurance. I'm looking for some ideas for this shot as its my first old church. Does anyone have any videos of an old church they've shot or suggestions that would help with ideas? Otherwise I'll stick with the classics.

• Gentle Rise (Up the church front, up the steeple, past the bell tower)
• Pano Circle (Slowly up and around circling the church exterior)
• Reveal and Approach Shots
• Straight down overhead shot
• Going to try a FPV shot starting outside and going through the front doors to reveal the chancel area (Clergy members stage).

 

[maggior]

Be careful flying through the doors because you can loose GPS indoors and the drone will have a hard time holding position. If you loose signal, the drone will go into RTH which may cause it to fly into something.

Otherwise I think you have good ideas of shots.

Taking the shots during "golden hour" can give your shots some pizazz. Golden hour is the hour before sunset or after sunrise.

 

[PaJi]

Great ideas. Don't forget close-ups. Things like stained glass windows, antique doors and or doorknobs, stone work, a cross and or other symbols of meaning. Try starting with wide shots outside and work your way into the details and then wrap with a nice wide shot or two outside. Ask yourself, "Who is my audience?" "What makes this church special to me?" Our church has been being renovated for the last 9 months. I've been documenting the changes every two weeks or so. Hopefully, the final product will be nice for the church, but along the way my flying skills have definately improved. Have a great time!

 

[AFAngryWarrior]

Great ideas. Don't forget close-ups. Things like stained glass windows, antique doors and or doorknobs, stone work, a cross and or other symbols of meaning. Try starting with wide shots outside and work your way into the details and then wrap with a nice wide shot or two outside. Ask yourself, "Who is my audience?" "What makes this church special to me?" Our church has been being renovated for the last 9 months. I've been documenting the changes every two weeks or so. Hopefully, the final product will be nice for the church, but along the way my flying skills have definately improved. Have a great time!

Thank you guys, a lot of ideas I hadn't thought of. Especially the close ups! I'll have to bring my normal camera. No law against mixing in some non-drone footage with the drone footage to tie it together right?

 

[FLDave]

Yes, for a good video don't limit yourself to drone videos. You can include done still shots. You can include videos and still from a good hand-held camera.
When it comes to editing make sure your video tells a story. Your videos and still don't need to be in the sequence shot. Move them around to tell your story. Use a final shot, perhaps a still, to wow the audience. Start your story with shots to set the location. If you can't add narration, then add text to start the story. Adding appropriate music can improve a video. Also, as you edit, don't be afraid to discard clips that don't add value to the final product.

 

[PaJi]

FLDave makes a good point. Be ruthless in your editing. Just because it is a good shot doesn't mean you should include it (as painful as that is).

 

[Aerialskape]

I'm still learning drone photography / videography. I've been going to events and taking photos/videos for personal use as a way to learn. I want to take a video of my local church one evening when no one is there (since I can't fly over people or vehicles) until I get my license and insurance. I'm looking for some ideas for this shot as its my first old church. Does anyone have any videos of an old church they've shot or suggestions that would help with ideas? Otherwise I'll stick with the classics.

• Gentle Rise (Up the church front, up the steeple, past the bell tower)
• Pano Circle (Slowly up and around circling the church exterior)
• Reveal and Approach Shots
• Straight down overhead shot
• Going to try a FPV shot starting outside and going through the front doors to reveal the chancel area (Clergy members stage).

Some times easier to start inside and fly out backwards then reverse the footage. Then you can be sure the inside shot ‘ends’ at the correct point. In the past if flown the flight in both directions then faded them together. Also helps with the changing light levels from inside to outside as you can set the exposure better for each segment