Can an Online Course Take Your Drone Photography to New Heights?

In the 6 years that I have owned a DJI Spark drone, I have yet to create a photo or video clip that I have deemed worthy of sharing. I am a portrait photographer who loves the simplicity of capturing images with a Leica M. Using a drone to capture scenes has always appeared needlessly complicated. Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder, however, if there is an online course I might study to take my drone photography to new heights.

In today’s world, where social media content is highly desired by both individuals and corporations, still photographers have seen an ever-increasing demand for video clips. Mastering the video function on your mirrorless still camera is a wise move for anyone looking to make money with their camera. It is also advisable to learn how to use a dedicated tool for video, such as a gimbal or cinema camera, to create attention-grabbing videos. If there is one tool, however, that creates images most unlike those you create with a still camera, it is a drone.

Drone Mastery is a new 3+ hour course from iPhone Photography School that promises to teach the viewer, “how to capture breathtaking drone shots and start flying with confidence.” I was given access to the course to write this review. 

I have never had much interest in drone photography and was gifted the Spark by my brother. Living in NYC, there isn’t much opportunity to fly the craft without fear of annoying someone or crashing into a building, so my drone has always been more akin to a toy helicopter than a photographic tool. When agreeing to review the Drone Mastery course, I wanted to know if I could learn how to film interesting-looking clips and if I could become more comfortable flying the drone. While I can navigate the open skies to a small degree, I have never felt confident in my ability to control the device. The tagline advertising the course addressed both of the skills I wanted to acquire from studying the course.

The learning curve for operating and capturing images with a drone can be steep. There is a level of competence one must have in operating the drone that comes before attempting to capture photographs or videos. The aerial view that a drone provides is unfamiliar territory for anyone accustomed to taking photographs at ground level. In the Drone Mastery course, instructor Clifford Pickett begins by discussing the crucial elements of photography/videography, which he describes as timing, lighting, and composition. Cliff explains that no matter what tool you use for image capture, you will want to think about these elements before pressing the shutter button. Throughout the instructional, he shows how each element is accounted for before he begins recording.

The instructional begins by walking the viewer through the basic steps of connecting a DJI drone. The information here is specific to the Mini 4 Pro, and there are times when Cliff describes the initial setup for this drone using language that implies these instructions are instantly transferable to other DJI drones. While I understand the popularity of DJI drones makes them a wise choice to use as a base for this section and the instructional as a whole, it would be helpful to provide information about where certain settings are found on other popular models. This is a minor concern, however, since the information Cliff provides about things such as the proper codec in which to shoot, preferred aspect ratio, and resolution is comprehensive, and it would be time well spent for the viewer to become familiar with important settings on their drone.

The instructional is filmed on the island of Madeira, resulting in some breathtaking shots throughout the course. Each chapter has an accompanying transcript with timestamps, allowing for easy access to specific topics. After several chapters on the best settings to use for photography and videography, Cliff begins instruction on taking high-quality still photographs of a seascape. He rightly points out that drone photography "allows you to see things from a unique vantage point that is only possible with a drone." Although you can’t move the elements in your frame as one might do when photographing people or products, Cliff shows how you can use your ability to control the drone to create different shots from a single scene. As will be the case throughout the video, Cliff refers back to the importance of timing, lighting, and composition. Concerning lighting, Cliff shows how you can effectively change the lighting in a scene by moving the position from which the drone is capturing the scene. If your subject happens to be in flat lighting, you could move the drone to create side lighting. Moving the drone in another direction might create backlighting. Information like this is accompanied by real-world examples, making it easy for the viewer to understand the concepts being taught. Much time is spent on the subject of composition. Cliff believes that composition may be more important in aerial photography than in any other form of photography.

As a portrait photographer, I have little interest in seascapes, landscapes, and still lifes. Still, I fired up the Spark and flew it over nearby Brooklyn College, searching for patterns that might reveal themselves from an aerial vantage point. This was the first time I had used the drone with the camera pointed down. It never occurred to me to use the camera in this orientation—especially since this position isn’t helpful when flying the drone. While I acknowledge that the image below is unimpressive, it does represent my photographing a scene differently than I have done in the past. This course has the potential to open new shooting opportunities for a photographer willing to step outside their comfort zone.

One limitation of teaching drone photography is that the student cannot always recreate the shot from the video. If the tutorial shows how to photograph a mountain but the viewer has access to only urban environments, they will not be able to apply the lessons as easily as they might apply lessons on a topic like posing a curvy model. To make these lessons transferable, Cliff walks you through his thought process to help you understand why you might choose to incorporate or eliminate elements from the scene. He also discusses how changing exposure can help create a variety of shots. You have some control over where the viewer will focus their attention by controlling exposure to allow or reduce the amount of light in your scene. Through instruction such as this, Cliff makes every effort to ensure that the lessons are transferable from his shooting location to yours.

I appreciate the sequencing of the video. Cliff starts by teaching a variety of photography concepts and showing several shots that can be taken by the drone when it is used as a still camera. If the viewer were to spend a few weeks working on these concepts, they would be ready for the next section, which involves using the drone to create videos. Some of these shots even involve moving the drone and the camera control simultaneously. By teaching how to use the drone as a still camera first, the user can develop basic control skills before attempting more complex movements that are required when creating interesting video clips.

Operating a drone has always been challenging for me. The controls on my Leica M10 are just where they should be. I focus manually and it is instinctive for me to move the focus tab in the correct direction as my subject moves towards me or away from me. By contrast, when I fly the Spark, I often push one of the control sticks in a particular direction expecting the drone to move left, but it moves right. I understand that my lack of comfort in operating the drone is the result of how seldom I fly the device.

Because of my inexperience in controlling a drone, I was most interested in the chapters that taught how to create cinematic videos in which the movement of the drone enhanced the video. One of my favorite chapters was "23 Cinematic Moves for Jaw-Dropping Videos (and the exact controls for each)," which covered this topic. The video, titled differently, is posted below. You will note the clear instructions, sample clips, and excellent on-screen graphics that show how to manipulate the control sticks to achieve the results seen in each sample clip. In the past, whenever I have attempted to film a clip, I have done so without a game plan, and I would just muck around with the controls for a few minutes and ultimately walk away frustrated that my shots didn’t look anything like the ones in the latest DJI advert. Having information about specific shots I could create and how to move the controls to capture these shots was empowering.

Using the guidance from the video, I attempted a shot known as the "Approach Reveal." I attempted the shot on several occasions, but problems with my Spark resulted in my video being unimpressive, to say the least. For the shot, I was attempting to fly the drone near a clock tower and have the camera pan from the ground up to the tower. Despite trying the shot on 2 different days, I was unable to receive the transmission from the drone to my phone. As a result, I was flying blind with no ability to set proper exposure or view how I was moving the camera from ground to tower. The shot would be better with the camera set to manual exposure and with a smoother pan from the ground to the tower, but it still represents growth in my drone videography.

In summation, the Drone Mastery course is excellent and provides tools that will help the viewer become more skilled at aerial photography. Topics covered include tracking a moving subject, creating time lapses, overcoming drone challenges, storytelling, and apps to use for creative edits. There is also a short segment discussing the differences between using a standard drone and an FPV drone. The organization of the video, instructional content, and onscreen graphics is excellent. I especially liked how Cliff discussed the thought process behind capturing images and videos with a drone. Even if you didn’t engage in drone photography, you might come away from this video with a new perspective on photographing familiar scenes.

In the course of this review, I spent about one hour in total flying the drone and attempting the shots that accompany this article. I don’t consider that to be a significant amount of time invested in mastering operation and image capture with any photographic tool—especially one as unique as a drone. Still, I can see that I have made significant improvements in both these areas. As I mentioned earlier, my drone is more of a plaything for me than a photography tool. I often bring it with me on the short road trips taken by my wife and me. We live in NYC, where open spaces are rare, and I enjoy being able to fly the drone more freely when we are in areas that have fewer buildings than we have in our city. Perhaps the best thing about this instructional is that I am now more willing to utilize the drone and attempt to create interesting photographs and videos.