Almost two months ago now, at the height of spring, I purchased a new drone - the DJI Mini 3 Pro, which has been a considerable upgrade out what I had and really opened up new creative possibilities and allows me to fly the drone in a wide range of less-than-optimal conditions. Unfortunately, until recently, the weather has been very unsettled in Southern Tasmania and mostly well beyond optimal conditions. If it hasn't been raining, then it's been blowing a gale, or it's just been dull and grey.
However, the good days have been getting more frequent lately and I have managed over the last month or two to get out to a few places and try out the photo capabilities of the drone both in and around Hobart and beyond.
Of course ,these are also pictures created from merging multiple images together, in some cases multiple exposures while on others I've stitched together a series of 48 MP photos, which also gives you a lot of latitude for editing.
As well as these wide, panoramic landscapes, I've experimented a bit with doing them in portrait format as well to try and create an effect of extreme depth.
For example, in this photo below, I want to emphasise the length of the quarry and use it to direct the viewer's eyes to the sweeping suburbs and hills on the horizon.
This one is another, perhaps less obvious example of creating a portrait shot from several merged images. In this case I saw the reflected sunrays on the water and the texture of the water and tried to use it to look like a shining path leading to the mountain. I have so many photos of Mt Wellington/kunanyi from the Eastern Shore of Hobart, that I wanted to find some new way to capture it, as its such a dominant feature of the landscape of the city.
Despite a bit of lense flare, I quite like this one, using photo merging allowed me to include more of the clouds which adds drama to the picture I think, while also capturing the city spread out at the foot of the mountain and the greenery in the foreground adding another layer.
And finally, I can't finish without including a little video I put together from shots I've taken of Hobart mostly from around Queens Domain on some beautifully lit evenings.