Aerials with a drone

I hesitated for a very long time about buying a drone. It is, after all, quite a pricey device and making aerials is a very distinct branch of photography. On the other hand, the aerial photos taken with drones that you come across on internet were incredibly appealing. So, eventually, in mid-2017, I gave in and bought one. In the beginning I practiced endlessly, especially in the floodplains near my hometown in The Netherlands. I was on edge wondering if the thing would actually come back. But despite all the horror stories on the internet about drones flying away and crashing, there is little wrong with modern technology. So, my drone always did exactly what was asked of it. Knock on wood!

Drone photography in panorama format

The camera in my drone has a lens equivalent to 24mm in a 35mm film camera. Initially, I was somewhat hesitant about such a wide-angle lens. I was afraid that the lens would capture ‘too much’. My fear proved unfounded. In practice, the opposite turned out to be the case. The lens often captured, in my opinion, too little, especially when hovering over a landscape with ‘large structures’, such as agricultural fields. Following what I often do on the ground, I therefore took a lot of panoramic shots by stitching images together. Modern drones work with an excellent GPS systems, which keeps the devices extremely stable in the air. By subsequently rotating the drone in the air, you can easily take a series of photos that you later combine into a single panorama on a PC.