Getting into filming, it was only a matter of time before getting into drone work. There’s a lot that goes into that too. To fly commercially, you’re looking at getting a learning drone (something cheap, small, and difficult to fly), getting a professional drone, registering it, and getting your commercial license, all before you can finally take drone footage and use it for a business.
Assuming you’ve done all that, it’s time to figure how to fly the thing to actually get some good footage. The simplest way to think about filming with a drone is to imagine it as the ultimate slide and jib built into one. That also means much of the time you need stacked elements moving over each other to make an interesting shot.
Here’s one of my favorite shots, and probably the most basic to set up depending on your drone, a revolving shot on a focal point. All DJI models have the option. The trick to setting it up is to put the camera in a straight down position, centering over the focal point, and then telling it to rotate. When I work with aircraft, I also start much higher than the highest point on the aircraft, and let it circle once while I follow it, then I lower the camera or change the radius based on how close I am with the aircraft.
