Air 2s Please give honest feedback on these pictures

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I didn't know things that work for video are detrimental to photos, that's what stage of learning I'm at.

None of us ever stop learning, that's for sure.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Maybe have a read through some of these threads, some will cover well what sort of things drone pilots need to consider when looking to do real estate work.

Search results for query: real estate

In general . . .

It's VERY competitive.
Almost all real estate people will want both aerial and ground shots in a package . . . some might do their own ground snaps and want someone others to take the aerials of course.
Many real estate people do their own aerials and even ground shots, some all be it badly with poor piloting / photography . . . some are good of course.

It's a matter of getting in to talk to a few and see what the 'vibe' is.

It's good to have something to aim for in selecting some sort of field to use your drone productively / commercially, but takes time to learn both the good flight techniques, and with this field, the photography / composition side of things.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Yeah, I'm trying different settings to get the quality of photos I see for the Air 2S, not having too much success yet, so that's why I'm coming here. It was a bright sunny california day, and I used the 32 ND filter, and I'm thinking maybe it's too dark, but then I still get zebra lines on clouds.

Hmmm, if you are using an ND32 with still photography, you need to tell us why you did that. If you don't really know, there is your first problem, you don't know much about photography. For doing the type of photography you say you want to do, you will never be using an ND filter when shotting stills. Therefore, you need to take some photography classes, or join a photo club first. Before thinking about doing a business, you need to know what you are doing, you seem to have the flying side down, so now you need to learn about photography and how to use the equipment you have.

Once you know how to use the equipment, you can then start to concern yourself with creating a business. You know flying, now imagine a very good photographer not knowing anything about flying and considering starting the business you want to do. You would tell them that they need to learn how to control the drone first and then combine the photography with the flying. Only then could they think about starting a business.

 

[SoCal2S]

Hmmm, if you are using an ND32 with still photography, you need to tell us why you did that. If you don't really know, there is your first problem, you don't know much about photography. For doing the type of photography you say you want to do, you will never be using an ND filter when shotting stills. Therefore, you need to take some photography classes, or join a photo club first. Before thinking about doing a business, you need to know what you are doing, you seem to have the flying side down, so now you need to learn about photography and how to use the equipment you have.

Once you know how to use the equipment, you can then start to concern yourself with creating a business. You know flying, now imagine a very good photographer not knowing anything about flying and considering starting the business you want to do. You would tell them that they need to learn how to control the drone first and then combine the photography with the flying. Only then could they think about starting a business.

That's exactly what I'm trying to do here.

 

[Cymruflyer]

That's exactly what I'm trying to do here.

Understood but as you are a flyer, you understand that you could not teach a non-flyer how to fly or a new flyer how to fly by writing things to them. In the same way you can't really learn photography by reading what someone is writing to you. At least that is not the best way, of course anything is possible.

You need some, one on one, or group on one help in photography, via a local camera club or a local photographer. You need to understand your drone's camera functions and feature, then learn about exposure, composition and framing and then learn post processing. Or you could turn that part over to a third party to make things easier for yourself.

I would suggest trying to find a local camera club near you and join that. Then look at Youtube videos for other parts you'll need to learn, along with in person training. Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[SoCal2S]

Understood but as you are a flyer, you understand that you could not teach a non-flyer how to fly or a new flyer how to fly by writing things to them. In the same way you can't really learn photography by reading what someone is writing to you. At least that is not the best way, of course anything is possible.

You need some, one on one, or group on one help in photography, via a local camera club or a local photographer. You need to understand your drone's camera functions and feature, then learn about exposure, composition and framing and then learn post processing. Or you could turn that part over to a third party to make things easier for yourself.

I would suggest trying to find a local camera club near you and join that. Then look at Youtube videos for other parts you'll need to learn, along with in person training. Good luck with your endeavors.

I've been looking at a lot of YT videos, taking the drone out and trying different settings, filters, etc. Like I said in the first post, I'm just starting out on the photography side. The pointers by others have been helpful so far, just by taking the ND filter off for photos have helped a lot, I was testing both photo and video capabilities and did not realize it was for videos and not photos. It's not like I'm only relying on reading these posts to gitgud, not sure why you got that impression, but the suggestions have already proven to be quite helpful and I'll keep experimenting and learning.

 

[RussOnTheRoad]

Let me preface my remarks by saying I made my living as a photographer for many years, have been published internationally and sat on the board of directors of a major photographers' group. All this is to say is that while there are mny photographers with superior skill and knowledge to my own, I do know a little bit about the subject. And, therein lies the problem with your photos: my guess is that you have not made much of a study of what makes for a good photograph.

Subjects such as composition, lighting, exposure control and color need to be understood so that they can be managed. Understanding the qualities of one's equipment is also important. I expect that for most people, as it did for me, learning about these things takes time and effort. I learned from books, feedback from pros. and groups, and a great deal of experimentation, gradually learning what makes the difference between good and mediocre photos.

I read quite a few of the comments before coming to FLDave's about composition. He was spot on. A good photo has to lead the viewer's eye. It needs a main point of interest. Your first photo seems to have a point of interest in the shape of the freeway interchange, but the big brown field in the foreground detracts from it. The viewer's eye wants to go there. Why is that there? What is its purpose? It seems naught but an uninteresting distraction. Perhaps being closer to, zoomed or cropped in on the interchange would be better. It could fill the frame or be better positioned with respect to the rule of thirds.

The lighting in that photo would seem to work against it. Photographers must always be conscious of where the light is coming from and choose the time of day and angle relative to the light source in order to obtain the desired result. The sun is high in your photo and coming a little from behind the scene. Were it lower and coming from the side it might have provided more releif in the photo as well as better color saturation. As it is, it might have introduced a little desaturation due to the nature of lens optics.

The colors are weak and seem wrong. A quick check of the white balance in the clouds using PhotoShop's sensitometer (eyedropper) tool shows the RGB channels are out of balance. When measuring what should be a neutral white the channels should be equal. They are not and as the clouds get darker they get further out of whack.

There is more that can be said about your photos, but a master class in photography cannot be given here. My main suggestion, I suppose, would be that if you want to take better photos, then make a study of it. Expect it to take time. For me the learning has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

I'm attaching one of my flower photos. It's not something one could shoot with the drones we fly, but it is, I think, a good example of the kinds of things a person can do when they understand the subject of photography. In this close-up shot of a passion flower, controlling the light, composition and technique (in this case macro photo-stacking) allowed me to produce the results you see. Without the knowledge acquired over a period of time this photo would never have been possible.

HTH.