Video over water into sun tips?

[justcruisin]

Hello,

I’m interested in learning how to improve my videos, so please point me in the right direction.

I shoot video with a Mavic 2 Pro while flying over water then process in DaVinci Resolve. The drone flies through a community with homes on canals, staying over the water as it moves. As the drone turns to fly down different canals the the sun angle changes.

In the same flight I can go from sun behind the camera, to sun from the side, to shooting straight into the sun with the added complication of it reflecting off the water.

I don’t have the luxury of waiting for a cloudy day or only shooting certain angles. I realize this is a difficult problem but I want to learn and improve anyway. I’ll throw in an extra factor of difficulty by saying I would rather not land mid mission to change filters on the drone, but I am open to that if it’s the only way.

So what can I do while flying…..and what can I do in post processing?

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Filters will do nothing for you. Unless you have a graduated ND filter that filters out ONLY the sun and reflections and not the rest of the frame, it will simply reduce the light for the entire scene (which auto exposure will simply compensate for, then you're back where you started).

A graduated ND filter is good for still shots (set with the graduation right at the horizon), but not so much for video. (Even then, a GND set at the horizon doesn't tame water reflections--these are best for just sky reduction.)

Manual exposure compensation (EC dial)—adjusted slowly as you turn into the sun—is probably your best bet.

You can just accept that the sun and reflected sun will just be blown out (all white) and that you have to expose for the rest of the scene (the houses on left/right), so look at those parts of the screen when adjusting the EC dial.

Chris

 

[eEridani]

Histogram is your friend. Real time exposure control using the EV dial (or equivalent); or just let the drone do the exposure automatically (eek). I'd probably expose for the ground 45 off the sun and let the sun, sky, and water bloom.

Or, use this as an excuse to buy the fancy new Mavic 3 with 12.8 stops of EV range! Not... lol.

 

[Dave Maine]

Shooting into the sun is problematic for all cameras, and the human eye. Getting the exposure right is a start, but sunlight into any lens causes flaring which, depending on the lens, creates the various lens surfaces and dirt to generate all kinds of garbage.

Short answer - time your flight to avoid having to shoot close to into the sun.

 

[justcruisin]

Shooting into the sun is problematic for all cameras, and the human eye. Getting the exposure right is a start, but sunlight into any lens causes flaring which, depending on the lens, creates the various lens surfaces and dirt to generate all kinds of garbage.

Short answer - time your flight to avoid having to shoot close to into the sun.

thank you but I don’t have that luxury

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Without the resources of expensive production (not just post-production, but pre-production planning with custom filters and mattes on the shoot), you may need to revisit your hard requirements.

One new thought: in those portions of your course where you are shooting into the sun, consider flying backwards. That is, make that same turn in your course, but rotate the nose 90 degrees on the opposite direction of flight. This allows you to shoot that lane with those houses, but not be shooting into the sun.

This is probably is only done well with a waypoint mission (which you may already be doing), where you can program course and aircraft orientation to do this.

An extra advantage is added interest in the video (changing it up helps keep long videos without edits boring). You could also use mission program to shoot sideways while traveling down a lane.

Chris

 

[tlswift58]

Without the resources of expensive production (not just post-production, but pre-production planning with custom filters and mattes on the shoot), you may need to revisit your hard requirements.

One new thought: in those portions of your course where you are shooting into the sun, consider flying backwards. That is, make that same turn in your course, but rotate the nose 90 degrees on the opposite direction of flight. This allows you to shoot that lane with those houses, but not be shooting into the sun.

This is probably is only done well with a waypoint mission (which you may already be doing), where you can program course and aircraft orientation to do this.

An extra advantage is added interest in the video (changing it up helps keep long videos without edits boring). You could also use mission program to shoot sideways while traveling down a lane.

Chris

If they are editing the video - stopping the video and drone - then turning it 180 degrees and resuming flight could / would work. Yes, you'd have to connect the videos; but many people do that already for a more interesting video.

Not way to know "WHY" they can't do certain things like waiting for a cloudy day, tilt the camera 45 degrees down, but they do seem to have boxed themselves in with few options outside of doing the above or like you state.

 

[justcruisin]

Without the resources of expensive production (not just post-production, but pre-production planning with custom filters and mattes on the shoot), you may need to revisit your hard requirements.

One new thought: in those portions of your course where you are shooting into the sun, consider flying backwards. That is, make that same turn in your course, but rotate the nose 90 degrees on the opposite direction of flight. This allows you to shoot that lane with those houses, but not be shooting into the sun.

This is probably is only done well with a waypoint mission (which you may already be doing), where you can program course and aircraft orientation to do this.

An extra advantage is added interest in the video (changing it up helps keep long videos without edits boring). You could also use mission program to shoot sideways while traveling down a lane.

Chris

Yes, already doing this as a waypoint mission in Litchi. Essentially an aerial “tour” of the community from one end to the other.

This is part of the reason for my self imposed limitations. The others are weather and logistics. I realize it is not ideal which is why I’m trying to learn more about the videography so I can compensate.

 

[Meta4]

thank you but I don’t have that luxury

Then you'll just have to accept that your results won't be great.

 

[justcruisin]

Then you'll just have to accept that your results won't be great.

Thank you captain obvious! I hope typing that pearl of wisdom brightened your day…..but I doubt it.

 

[Meta4]

No need to be snarky.
What you are asking for doesn't exist.

 

[justcruisin]

No need to be snarky.

Quintessential pot calling the kettle black right there!

 

[Meta4]

Still no need for that attitude.

 

[justcruisin]

Still no need for that attitude.

Do you even realize that you are the one who first posted with attitude or are you transmit only?

 

[justcruisin]

To the people who posted helpful answers thank you very much. I have already learned some tips and been pointed in a fruitful direction where I am learning more. Please ignore the troll.

Right now I am experimenting with some filters that were included when I purchased my drone used. It’s a Freewell adjustable from 1 to 5. I tried it at 4 but by the time I landed it was on 5, maybe from the vibrations?

I set ISO 100, Aperture 7.1, shutter 1/50. Experimented with adjusting aperture airborne because some clouds rolled in during flight.

Results were good. I might buy some fixed Neutral density filters withOUT circular polaring (edited, I learned polarizing is fiddly when shooting video with changing sun angles) for my next step. Thanks again.