Visited the Trona Pinnacles again to capture some new drone footage and ground photos. I added some drone light painting photography in this visit. This was the first time I’ve attempted drone light painting.
We arrived a little less than an hour before the sun set over the mountains to the west. The winds were light and we had some interesting clouds offer up some nice photo opportunities. I couldn’t have asked for much better than this.
I flew my DJI Mavic Air 2 drone around for a couple flights capturing the amazing views all around in video and photos. After the second flight I changed batteries and set the drone on the launch pad for later. While waiting for the sun to set, I snapped several photos from the ground with my Canon EOS R camera. This was perfect timing as the sun was setting and the clouds had formed nicely over the tufas. The clouds created a nice sunset glow which generated an amazing sunset photo.
I merged three photos together using auto exposure bracketing to make the photo below. Settings for the photos used are listed below:
| 1st Photo | 2nd Photo | 3rd Photo |
|---|---|---|
| Aperture = f/5.6 Shutter Speed = 1/125 sec ISO = 400 Focal Length = 35mm | Aperture = f/5.6 Shutter Speed = 1/60 sec ISO = 400 Focal Length = 35mm | Aperture = f/5.6 Shutter Speed = 1/30 sec ISO = 400 Focal Length = 35mm |
Just Before Sunset Drone Photos
Drone Light Painting Photos
Equipment used in the drone light painting photos:
This was my first attempt at drone light painting. With the winds low it was an excellent evening to finally try it for the first time. I took some long exposure photos of my drone flying above a tufa before it was too dark.
This was also the first time I’ve flown with waypoints so I was learning two things at once. The first few photos I took had the drone flying to slow so I didn’t track much distance. The drone was flown in default Waypoint speed in each photo below.
After several slow speed flights I discovered how to change the speed. I sped up the drone 3x in the photo below with a 30-second exposure.
Once it was dark I attempted a number of flights around the moon using waypoints. Unfortunately, waypoints use locations on the ground so I ended up flying the drone manually. Some of my family said my first photo looked a little like a horse head. What do you think?
Conclusion
Overall, this was a fun trip with the family and gave me a chance to practice drone light painting for the first time. The clouds put off a beautiful glow offering some great photo opportunities and little to no wind making perfect conditions for the drone. This was my first attempt at drone light painting and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I look forward to improving my skills and highlighting them as I progress. Be sure to subscribe to receive notification when the next article is posted.
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