10 Easy Drone Moves to Make Your Footage Look Incredible

Videography, unsurprisingly, has the added element of needing to not only frame a shot but consider how a camera might move within the space for the duration of the video.

When taking video from a drone, there is the further added element of three-dimensional space. This isn’t to say that videos don’t generally work in three dimensions, but rather that with a drone, you have the added complexity of going forward, backward and sideways like regular video, but also up and down.

I don’t think I’ve stated anything profound here. What is profound, or perhaps worth learning, are some standard drone movements to use for your next video. In this video, YouTuber Mattheww Brennan shares some beginner-friendly movements you can try on your next flight. Brennen’s detailed video not only highlights what the movements look like, but also offers insight into how to move the joysticks to achieve the shot. Interestingly, Brennan offers movements that aren’t all manual. That is to say, some of the movements use functions already built into the drones, such as spotlight view.

Often, it isn’t that you need to know complex maneuvers or techniques, but just little hints on how to use something. So, whether you're rolling forward or zooming side to side, I’d love to know which of these techniques you already knew or had tried and which were new?

Ali Choudhry's picture

Ali Choudhry is a photographer in Australia. His photographic practice aims to explore the relationship with the self, between the other, and the world. Through use of minimalist compositions and selective use of color and form he aims to invoke what he calls the "breath". He is currently working towards a BA (Honours) in Photography.

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2 Comments

He pimps a stock photo agency from my reading is sketchy on its business plan...says it's free to upload, but seems to feel you got to pay the "man" a monthly fee. Hope I am wrong, so misleading and border line deceptive on their business practice. Check it out and let me hear your spin.

So in other words, the skill of using one automatic tracking feature on one brand/model of drone.