Seven Tips to Get Cinematic Drone Footage

Here's a short video from Joey Helms that hits some great points on how to achieve more cinematic drone shots. Almost all of these points hold true for any photography or video shoot.Whether you’re a drone pilot, or film photographer this short video has some useful points about how to approach any shoot and get better looking video or images. The first four can be directly related to all video and still photography shoots. Probably the most important is Variety. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with a favorite lens or get caught up in shooting one pose or location over and over again. Variety comes second on Helms' list, I might have put it first. 

Plan is first on the list. Drone photography (battery life) forces us to be more sensitive with time. This is also true with any shoot you’re doing, from a landscape sunset to a high-profile celebrity portrait. The more you plan the better the shoot will go and the more prepared you will be for changes on the fly. Planning and variety go hand in hand because within the planning you’re going to build in the variety of shots to make the client happy. I’ll let Helms explain the rest. 

Joe Klementovich's picture

Joe Klementovich lives a stones throw away from Mount Washington in North Conway, New Hampshire. He works as a freelance photographer and videographer for a wide range of commercial clients and publications from the New York Times to Patagonia. Ideally working in the mountains, rivers and forests of the world.

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