Lights

As I close out this series, I saved my favorite image for last. After receiving the low battery warning, I slowly lowered the drone in for a landing. I stopped to take this image, which is now a favorite, but hovering to take this image cost me too much battery time. I was at 2%, the drone was losing power, and a moderate wind prevented me from landing where I took off. I quickly scrambled to look for a new landing zone, but the closest one I could find was across a highway. With fifteen seconds left to fly, I quickly located an open parking spot, marked the location, landed, and hoped it was there after I drove over. After a tense car ride and a short fence I hopped over, I found the now out-of-battery drone and safely recovered these images.

 Centerpiece

One of my favorite experiences while flying the drone is when clouds are at the same level I am taking pictures. It feels unreal to have a camera up that high. I took this image at 1000 feet, with clouds at 1250 feet. There has only been one instance when I have taken an image completely above some clouds (during last Thankgiving's trip to Florida) but seeing landscapes from this angle is always incredible. 

 

Moody

This image is a perfect example of why I add grain. During a humid and warm sunrise, a thick layer of clouds rolled in and blocked my view of the sun. The mood quickly turned gray and gloomy. To increase this feeling, I added grain. The buildings became less clear, the sky bluer, and the overall image darker. 

Rush Hour

One of my favorite accessories to the drone is the neutral density filters. As I have mentioned before, it darkens the image and adds contrast. For this application, it helps blur the movement of the cars and gives the buildings a more rich color. One of the editing processes I have been experimenting with recently is adding grain. In the past, I have always wanted the sharpest image possible, meaning no grain, but recently I like how the pictures are not perfectly clear. It makes the image feel older, shifting the mood and how the viewer interprets the piece.

 

The Fountain Place

During one of my sunset excursions, I flew the drone over Freeway 366, or Woodall Rogers Freeway. Fortunately, I put on my neutral density filter, which allowed me to blur the motion of the cars on the freeway. The cars ended up moving enough that they were blurred, but not too much that the cars didn't look like cars. Additionally, the neutral density filter adds vibrancy to the colors, which helps the main building, called The Fountain Place, stand out.

 

Dawn

After going downtown during a moderately interesting sunset, I chose to go down two more times, another sunset and one sunrise. In the past, I have been looking at weather apps to determine what I thought would be a good sunset or not. Recently, I downloaded this app called MySunset. Based on the clouds at the horizon and above it, it rates how good the color will be for the sunset and displays it as a percent. This sunrise was rated as a 80%, but the colors were better than expected. It is a good app and certainly one I will use again.