Jim in Massachusetts
Member
Thought I'd share some of the recent still photos I've published to the Web. After shooting with a Canon 5D and 7D for a few years, I must say I'm disappointed with the image quality from my GoPro Hero 2. I hope to be flying a Cinestar 8 someday. On the other hand, I am well aware that given its light weight self timer feature the GoPro is a very capable camera.
I have the WiFi back... but find it useless of the copter is more than ~50 feet away. Preview does not update fast enough, even on my Galaxy SIII.
Here is my method for still photos from the GoPro.
When I'm shooting a subject where getting a good shot is important, I have the GoPro shoot a still every 2 seconds using the interval timer mode. On flights where getting a good shot is less critical, I set the interval timer for 5 sec. Either way I'm left with hundreds of photos to delete!
When I can maneuver a good distance back from the subject, I set the camera angle just slightly below horizontal. This helps minimize the curved horizon from lens distortion.
I shoot "11MP wide" mode which leaves lots of room to crop. I set the metering mode to "spot". This help reduce under-exposure of your subject when there's lots of sky in the frame.
Once on the computer I correct the distortion, balance the color and crop *** needed before publishing. I use Picasa's browser to view my images and Adobe Photoshop CS5 for editing.
I publish my aerial photos to Google+ (every photographers favorite)
https://plus.google.com/photos/104688579048759425474/albums/5800083779192696801
Photo.net
http://photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=215599
and Saugus Photos Online
http://saugus.net/Photos/
Feel free to reply with your aerial photography tips or critiques of my photos or methods.
Jim H.
I have the WiFi back... but find it useless of the copter is more than ~50 feet away. Preview does not update fast enough, even on my Galaxy SIII.
Here is my method for still photos from the GoPro.
When I'm shooting a subject where getting a good shot is important, I have the GoPro shoot a still every 2 seconds using the interval timer mode. On flights where getting a good shot is less critical, I set the interval timer for 5 sec. Either way I'm left with hundreds of photos to delete!
When I can maneuver a good distance back from the subject, I set the camera angle just slightly below horizontal. This helps minimize the curved horizon from lens distortion.
I shoot "11MP wide" mode which leaves lots of room to crop. I set the metering mode to "spot". This help reduce under-exposure of your subject when there's lots of sky in the frame.
Once on the computer I correct the distortion, balance the color and crop *** needed before publishing. I use Picasa's browser to view my images and Adobe Photoshop CS5 for editing.
I publish my aerial photos to Google+ (every photographers favorite)
https://plus.google.com/photos/104688579048759425474/albums/5800083779192696801
Photo.net
http://photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=215599
and Saugus Photos Online
http://saugus.net/Photos/
Feel free to reply with your aerial photography tips or critiques of my photos or methods.
Jim H.
