Air 2 [Photos] Kanyaka Station Ruin

[Alexander Of Oz]

I had the opportunity to visit this famous sheep station just above Quorn in South Australia and its stone buildings last week whilst in the area. here are some images captured with my Mavic Air 2, using the 48MP capture with a graduated Freewell ND filter to subdue the sky.

Kanyaka Station (Wikipedia)

[Edited the images to compensate for the graduated ND filter left on and to subdue the excessively blue sky, that'll teach me to try editing on an old iPad while on the road!]

 

[Jack43]

I had the opportunity to visit this famous sheep station just above Quorn in South Australia and its stone buildings last week whilst in the area. here are some images captured with my Mavic Air 2, using the 48MP capture with a graduated Freewell ND filter to subdue the sky.

wow amazing shots! I like the landscape and the ruines! Fantastic pics! I found it on Google Earth!
cheers Paul

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

wow amazing shots! I like the landscape and the ruines! Fantastic pics! I found it on Google Earth!
cheers Paul

Thanks, Paul. It's an amazing site, I had the shortest time there, so went with a quick flyover, I'm back in a little while so will explore it thoroughly then!

 

[Jack43]

Thanks, Paul. It's an amazing site, I had the shortest time there, so went with a quick flyover, I'm back in a little while so will explore it thoroughly then!

you´r welcome Alexander! I am looking forward the the next Kanyaka Station Ruin Video Happy shooting!
cheers Paul

 

[Laborous]

Nice job!

 

[Photo Beaty]

I enjoyed the way you showed shots from a distance to give relationship to the land and then did some directly over head shots that enabled me to see the layout of the structures.

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

Nice job!

Thanks, @Laborous , I didn't think to remove the graduated filter for the shots where no sky is present! Lesson learnt for next time, just grab them first with no filter, then put the graduated ND on for shots with the sky in them. ?

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

I enjoyed the way you showed shots from a distance to give relationship to the land and then did some directly over head shots that enabled me to see the layout of the structures.

I think it's necessary to set context, without the larger views, even if it is harder to see the ruins, you have no idea where you are! I'm glad that worked for you.

 

[SkyeHigh]

Great composition there. Too often people don’t take the time to frame their shots.

Oh, the brown, brown dirt of home!

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

Great composition there. Too often people don’t take the time to frame their shots.

Oh, the brown, brown dirt of home!

Hope you're able to wing your way back soon.

I am a self taught photographer, working as a photojournalist for a European agency, with a past of fine art long exposures, architectural and landscape photography. Composition has always played a key part to my photography, it was one of the first things taught to me as a teenager doing 35mm film photography and again in 2012-2014 through a generous portrait and architectural photographer who unofficially mentored those that showed a keen interest in the art of photography! You don't see that sort of behaviour all that often these days. It sadly seems to be a madhouse of cutting others to shreds to get your 15 seconds!

Being able to explore photography from the air is an amazing challenge and allows all manner of presentation of subject not possible otherwise. I have purchased a range of ND filters to play with longer exposures, but won't ever be able to achieve the six plus minutes I am used to achieving on land!

 

[macfawlty]

Thanks, @Laborous , I didn't think to remove the graduated filter for the shots where no sky is present! Lesson learnt for next time, just grab them first with no filter, then put the graduated ND on for shots with the sky in them. ?

I’ve never liked using graduated ND filters even with DSLRs . Certainly, it would never work with video and in all practicality doesn’t work for a drone as you can’t remove it when it’s in the sky. It forces you into a very specific composition, completely impractical. You’re better off bracketing, easy enough to do when taking photos using ISO, shutter speed or EV on your MA2.
Here’s an overview I just found specific to the MA2, but I would use an Adobe LR>Photoshop workflow, not these 3rd party programs. With the quality of your images and the the quality of the RAW images from the MA2, Lightroom would suffice.

DJI Mavic Air 2 bracketing – 48MP DNG (RAW), JPG and HDR files to download

Some of our readers have asked me about bracketing with the DJI Mavic Air 2. So, earlier today, I went out to shoot a few 48MP stills in DNG (RAW) and JPG format for you to play around with in Photoshop, Aurora HDR, or Affinity Photo. Here are the files that were shot around noon today of the...

dronexl.co

You would only use Photoshop to mask radically different exposures. From LR, make adjustments to each frame, select both > Export as Layers to PS, then Edit>Auto-Align Layers and do your masking with gradient or brush.

 

[macfawlty]

Hope you're able to wing your way back soon.

I am a self taught photographer, working as a photojournalist for a European agency, with a past of fine art long exposures, architectural and landscape photography. Composition has always played a key part to my photography, it was one of the first things taught to me as a teenager doing 35mm film photography and again in 2012-2014 through a generous portrait and architectural photographer who unofficially mentored those that showed a keen interest in the art of photography! You don't see that sort of behaviour all that often these days. It sadly seems to be a madhouse of cutting others to shreds to get your 15 seconds!

Being able to explore photography from the air is an amazing challenge and allows all manner of presentation of subject not possible otherwise. I have purchased a range of ND filters to play with longer exposures, but won't ever be able to achieve the six plus minutes I am used to achieving on land!

Depending on the subject and purpose of your ultra long exposure drone images, you may be able to accomplish it with a LR>PS masking workflow. These drones can do reasonably long exposures, but of course a completely blurry image is useless. It would be great if the MA2 was tripod-stable, but it is of course, flying. Silky water or long light trails captured at longer exposures could theoretically be masked together with a sharper image, the challenge being the different ND values that would necessitate landing, replacing the filter and relaunching to the same altitude and orientation. An example would be a series of waypoint missions for a day-to-night timelapse. Do you have examples of your ultra long exposure images?

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

I’ve never liked using graduated ND filters even with DSLRs . Certainly, it would never work with video and in all practicality doesn’t work for a drone as you can’t remove it when it’s in the sky. It forces you into a very specific composition, completely impractical. You’re better off bracketing, easy enough to do when taking photos using ISO, shutter speed or EV on your MA2.
Here’s an overview I just found specific to the MA2, but I would use an Adobe LR>Photoshop workflow, not these 3rd party programs. With the quality of your images and the the quality of the RAW images from the MA2, Lightroom would suffice.

DJI Mavic Air 2 bracketing – 48MP DNG (RAW), JPG and HDR files to download

Some of our readers have asked me about bracketing with the DJI Mavic Air 2. So, earlier today, I went out to shoot a few 48MP stills in DNG (RAW) and JPG format for you to play around with in Photoshop, Aurora HDR, or Affinity Photo. Here are the files that were shot around noon today of the...

dronexl.co

You would only use Photoshop to mask radically different exposures. From LR, make adjustments to each frame, select both > Export as Layers to PS, then Edit>Auto-Align Layers and do your masking with gradient or brush.

We are all allowed to do our photography however we see fit! That's the beauty of this artform, you get to do it for how it works for you or to create the looks you enjoy creating. I fully appreciate the graduated ND filter for the in-camera benefits it creates (including for certain video capture scenario's!), even if that does mean changing filters, rotating the graduated filter, etc.. to match the next scene. I prefer to work slow, live slow, cook slow! No need to merge in post-production if you know how to use a graduated filter.

Depending on the subject and purpose of your ultra long exposure drone images, you may be able to accomplish it with a LR>PS masking workflow. These drones can do reasonably long exposures, but of course a completely blurry image is useless. It would be great if the MA2 was tripod-stable, but it is of course, flying. Silky water or long light trails captured at longer exposures could theoretically be masked together with a sharper image, the challenge being the different ND values that would necessitate landing, replacing the filter and relaunching to the same altitude and orientation. An example would be a series of waypoint missions for a day-to-night timelapse. Do you have examples of your ultra long exposure images?

Thanks for the suggestion, but I prefer to get it right in-camera, rather than spend more time in post-production chained to an editing station! I have a good idea as to where I'll use the longer exposures and when, sharing the results here as I go with this experimentation and exploration. Whilst using ND's with a drone may be new to me, using ND's is something I have been exploring since 2012.

Regarding my LE imagery, no galleries as such online, just the prints that have been exhibited and sold from there.

 

[macfawlty]

Graduated ND filters were used more in the film days before RAW and Lightroom, but I understand you’re using them for specific intent. I agree with you about getting it right in-camera, but when shooting RAW or Dlog-M, everything gets edited.

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

Graduated ND filters were used more in the film days before RAW and Lightroom, but I understand you’re using them for specific intent. I agree with you about getting it right in-camera, but when shooting RAW in Dlog-M, everything gets edited.

Graduated ND's drop exposure of a selected part of the scene, so as to create good exposure levels in your capture. That is equally important in digital as it was in film usage! I know there is a certain recoverable amount of an exposure, but blownout highlights are unrecoverable, regardless of whether you have a tiny mobile phone sensor or a medium format sized one!

A RAW file is unaltered by Picture Profiles, except for jpeg output. Is that different on the DJI drones? On my Parrot Anafi that is the case, where only the jpeg or jpeg preview embedded in the RAW file is different, but the RAW file is neutral. I'm going to go check that out now... ?

 

[macfawlty]

Graduated ND's drop exposure of a selected part of the scene, so as to create good exposure levels in your capture. That is equally important in digital as it was in film usage! I know there is a certain recoverable amount of an exposure, but blownout highlights are unrecoverable, regardless of whether you have a tiny mobile phone sensor or a medium format sized one!

A RAW file is unaltered by Picture Profiles, except for jpeg output. Is that different on the DJI drones? On my Parrot Anafi that is the case, where only the jpeg or jpeg preview embedded in the RAW file is different, but the RAW file is neutral. I'm going to go check that out now... ?

Yes, the flat profile was a reference to DLOG-M video (w/ the M2P).
I understand the purpose for a graduated ND and using for creative effect. How long of an exposure are you trying to accomplish with the drone’s camera and for what type of scene? I’m curious as to the type of effect you’re going for. The effects I’m thinking of are silky water or clouds, star trails and auto lights or making moving objects in a scene disappear.
I use longer exposures for night hyperlapses with my M2P, but the results can be disappointing. The primary issues are; #1) some or most of the images in the series will be blurry; #2) the drone’s flight altitude bounces around a lot, so even if the images are acceptably sharp, it requires a lot of video stabilization in post. I’ve resorted to shutter speeds of no longer than 1/4 or 1/3 to ensure an acceptable degree of sharpness. But, I haven’t perfected the hyperlapse method and workflow as well as others. Certainly other pilots are using much longer exposures and achieving excellent results under the right situations. Wind is always a factor at altitude.

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

Yes, the flat profile was a reference to DLOG-M video (w/ the M2P).
I understand the purpose for a graduated ND and using for creative effect. How long of an exposure are you trying to accomplish with the drone’s camera and for what type of scene? I’m curious as to the type of effect you’re going for. The effects I’m thinking of are silky water or clouds, star trails and auto lights or making moving objects in a scene disappear.
I use longer exposures for night hyperlapses with my M2P, but the results can be disappointing. The primary issues are; #1) some or most of the images in the series will be blurry; #2) the drone’s flight altitude bounces around a lot, so even if the images are acceptably sharp, it requires a lot of video stabilization in post. I’ve resorted to shutter speeds of no longer than 1/4 or 1/3 to ensure an acceptable degree of sharpness. But, I haven’t perfected the hyperlapse method and workflow as well as others. Certainly other pilots are using much longer exposures and achieving excellent results under the right situations. Wind is always a factor at altitude.

Okay, yeah, the flatter profile for video capture needs attention, yes. It's my understanding that no DJI drones actually have true LOG formats though, just a flatter profile. From the very quick video captures I have done so far on my MA2 it's very over sharpened, over contrasted and slightly over saturated straight out of the box with both H264 & H265 capture types. It looks like the Cinelike-D is the best option for this little bird in video capture regards.

The slightly longer shutter speeds of up to a half a second are what I'd like to play with, I could do that easily with my Parrot Anafi, so I'm expecting to be able to achieve the same with this much newer piece of tech. ?

 

[macfawlty]

Okay, yeah, the flatter profile for video capture needs attention, yes. It's my understanding that no DJI drones actually have true LOG formats though, just a flatter profile. From the very quick video captures I have done so far on my MA2 it's very over sharpened, over contrasted and slightly over saturated straight out of the box with both H264 & H265 capture types. It looks like the Cinelike-D is the best option for this little bird in video capture regards.

The slightly longer shutter speeds of up to a half a second are what I'd like to play with, I could do that easily with my Parrot Anafi, so I'm expecting to be able to achieve the same with this much newer piece of tech. ?

Yes, I noticed the MA2 doesn’t have the D-LOG-M like the M2P, which is not a ‘true’ log format from what I understand. I’m not a purist with regards to LOG formats. They’re not always the best option even if you’re good at color grading. I agree the D-cinelike is the best for the MA2. I’ve only had my MA2 for a couple weeks.

While the video image is clearly sharpened ‘in-camera’, I thought it looked quite good. The d-cinelike was neutral enough for my preferences. If I add a little contrast or vibrance and the image is close to final...great. I guess it depends on the light quality at the time of filming. IMHO, DJI’s image quality gets better with each generation of drones. They get a lot out a sensor 1/4 the size of the M2P.

Here’s a few still frames from video (d-cinelike) I shot last weekend, my first flights with the MA2. I barely touched them in LR. I sorta like it. More sharpening than I would have added in post if it were a photo.

I think you could easily do 1/2 to 2 or 3 seconds without a problem. Others here on the forum have more experience with longer exposures. If I were taking just a single image or a series for panorama and needed a 2 or 3 second exposure, I’d just shoot a lot of frames bracketed to ensure some good ones came out of it. When I encounter problems is a night hyperlapse where I don’t have the luxury of bracketing.

 

[Alexander Of Oz]

That's very crispy isn't it! I like to sharpen my video to taste, dependent upon what is being captured, but I am almost always using 25fps for my captures and occasionally 50fps if needed to slow a bit down slightly, or 100 fps if really wanting to slow things down a lot. For standard HD delivery online that is no issue, normally. As at this point in time, the majority of people are still viewing images and video on mobile devices, with a startlingly small amount of people having 4K viewing at home! Saves me a lot of money and time to only deliver in HD! ?

 

[macfawlty]

That's very crispy isn't it! I like to sharpen my video to taste, dependent upon what is being captured, but I am almost always using 25fps for my captures and occasionally 50fps if needed to slow a bit down slightly, or 100 fps if really wanting to slow things down a lot. For standard HD delivery online that is no issue, normally. As at this point in time, the majority of people are still viewing images and video on mobile devices, with a startlingly small amount of people having 4K viewing at home! Saves me a lot of money and time to only deliver in HD! ?

Yeh, you’re right. A UHD clip downsized to 1080p looks real nice. I think they’ve struck a nice balance with cameras that do some in-camera sharpening to achieve a nice image without the need for post processing. I’d prefer of course the option for more neutral color, less sharpening, contrast and saturation, but I truly love the MA2. I’m anxious to experiment more with the FPV gimbal mode.