When shooting clips with a drone with a view of creating a video/film there are as many workflows as there are videographers. I’m going to share here my tips for drone filming in the hope it can help others enjoy the process as much as I do.

I’ve been flying drones since 2014, admittedly not intensively initially but gradually ramping up to where we are today and I fly a drone multiple times a week if not daily when the weather allows.

This takes me to my first tip which is:

The more you fly drones the better you will fly drones

Practice makes perfect but flying aimlessly up, down, forwards, and backwards doesn’t teach you anything after the initial phase of learning.

It is important, of course, while doing so safely, to push yourself out of your comfort zone, beyond the point of worrying about that piece of flying tech, no risk = no reward.

I often go out with the sole purpose of improving my skills through flying. I am lucky enough to have access to a private field and woodland where I represent no risk to others. In the woods I train to fly at only 3-9 feet high. This is only training so why risk it? I fly through tight gaps between branches and trees while adding some slow rotation or something along those lines.

It improves my dexterity and handling of the drone.

Research and study your shoot location first

Drone batteries are precious and in order not to waste time and battery power sending the drone in the air to check the place out, if I’m heading to a new location, I like to use Google Maps to ensure I make the most of the limited time I have shooting.

I often shoot at sunrise or sunset to make the most of the golden hour, so knowing where the sun will be in relation to what I am shooting is crucial.

You know the saying: Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Smooth drone moves make better videos

By smooth I don’t mean necessarily slow but smooth. Not jerky or sudden movements or rotations. To achieve this, practise with the goal always in mind, to learn to fly more smoothly and therefore film more smoothly.

You can also, if for example you fly a DJI drone, adjust the output of the drone control stick (sensitivity) on the controller and the gimbal’s yaw smoothness and rotation speed as well as pitch speed and smoothness.

This is well worth doing if you’ve never changed these settings. A game changer if you’re used to factory settings.

Buy drone ND filters

Initially, I had little interest in video and only used a drone for photography. You can get away without ND filters in drone photography but not drone filming especially if your drone has a fixed aperture.

If you don’t use ND filters on your drone, chances are your drone footage often stutters. This is caused by a too fast shutter speed, maybe 1/1000 because the camera needs that in order not to let too much light in and end up with an over-exposed frame. Think of your eyes, in bright light if you look at the sun (don’t) you can’t but close them immediately whereas a desk lamp you can probably look at for longer as it emits significantly less light.

To get smooth footage you need a slow shutter speed of 1/50 for 24fps (Google 180 rule).

You can get drone ND filters from Freewell or other brands, I’m not affiliated, Freewell ND filters are the ones I bought.

Pay attention to the weather conditions

Modern drones are increasingly able to handle wind but there is a limit. Especially if you are filming, avoid the windiest of days. This will make the drone’s gimbal stabilisation struggle less and guarantee you smooth stabilised footage. In fact drone footage shot in acceptable conditions is so stable that it rarely needs any further stabilisation in post.

Choose the best time of the day to fly a drone

I tend to avoid shooting at midday and this applies to both drone photography/videography and regular photography/videography, on foot. The light is often too harsh.

The best time of the day to fly a drone is the morning at sunrise, followed by sunset, ideally with just the right amount of clouds so the sky isn’t pure blue nor is it overcast. What I like most about sunrise is that you have a small window of low to no wind. It is often calm and the light is not harsh.

The added benefit is that there are fewer people around and that always makes for more enjoyable drone flying in my opinion, not only since it reduces any potential safety risk but also reduces the chances of someone wanting to strike an in-depth conversation about drone purchase choices while you are trying to get the shot.

Slow panning shots

Panning shots are great but often cause stuttering of the footage, or choppy drone footage. We already discussed ND filters for drones to avoid stutter due to high shutter speed.

Stutter can also happen when panning too fast or too close in relation to your subject. The closer you are to the scene, the slower you must pan, whereas if you increase the distance with your subject, this will allow faster panning with less risk of stutter.

Learn a variety of drone moves

Search online for drone videos and you’ll find lots of fantastic work as well as many videos where the drone operator literally goes up, down, forward, backward, left and right.

What usually makes better videos stand-out, (aside from editing and colour-grading) is the drone pilot’s skill and the variety of drone moves they use/film.

Generally speaking, I find that combining two or more moves into one is the easiest way to step it up.

For example going up and forward simultaneously, or rising up while the camera is looking down and slowly rotating.

Once you are confident with basic commands, push yourself to learn to handle two or three at the same time.

Once again, practise makes perfect, so keep at it, keep pushing yourself and these seamingly complicated moves will become second nature.

Avoid automatic modes

Whether it is with a standard DSLR, mirrorless, compact camera, smartphone camera or drone camera, my best advice is to avoid any automatic modes.

That’s if you want to improve.

There are two types of automation with drones.

Camera: Here you let the camera decide aperture, shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation.

Drone moves: Many drones have options for preset moves like dronies, rocket, etc… This makes complicated moves accessible to all.

By choosing automatic modes you are letting the camera do the work and letting it take creative decisions for you.

Of course that’s what it’s here for, to make your life easier and allow you to get better shots than you would when you are just getting started.

Anything automatic keeps you in a safe comfort zone and comfort zones are the death of creativity and learning.

We want to learn and get better while having 100% control on the creative outcome, that only happens by doing it ourselves. This is how you stand out from the rest.

Turn off auto and take back control.

Watch drone videos for inspiration

It’s very useful to watch videos by the best drone videographers out there for inspiration. Of course as all things inspiring it is good to get that spark of an idea but try to give it your own twist, your own style.

Watch this short 1m30s video I recently shot and then go practice, have fun, get out and fly!