Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
It’s not every day that you get to watch such a majestic beast in the wild as a bull moose. And it certainly isn’t usual to watch that moose shed its antlers. And then, to cap it all, to actually capture the whole thing on video!
That’s exactly how lucky Canadian photographer Derek Burgoyne was when he was out flying his drone in central New Brunswick. With one flick of his head, the moose shakes free of its heavy antlers, leaving them in the fresh snow.
Those who know me are aware that I’ve been talking about getting a drone for ages! Years, in fact. Put off by the many restrictions and rules that went hand in hand with owning and flying a drone, my biggest concern was that I just wouldn’t use it enough.
I thought that it would be mostly unused, sitting on a shelf gathering dust, but when DJI announced the Mini 3 Pro, the time was finally right to jump in and place the order. Having now owned the Mini 3 Pro for around 5 or 6 months, I thought I would share my thoughts from the point of view of a landscape photographer owning his very first drone.
A well-known Taiwanese actor was disfigured recently when a camera drone crashed into his face. The incident happened on set for a Netflix film shoot. The actor suffered a serious injury to his face and, according to his manager, needed around 30 stitches.
Actor Kai Ko was filming a Mandarin-language fantasy series for Netflix called Agent From Above when the accident happened. It occurred on December 27th, however, Ko has still not yet returned to the set.
It’s every drone pilot’s worst nightmare. One moment you’re happily flying away, the next, your drone has gone out of control and is plummeting towards certain death, usually in a body of water, just to make things even more interesting. These things seem to have a nose for water. Take a drone to a desert, and it could save your life because you can almost guarantee that if there is water to be found, the drone will crash into it!
The Drone Light Show company had similar bad luck recently when not just one of its drones, but around 50 of them, got into difficulty during one of their shows in Perth, Australia. And, of course, these rogue drones decided to crash into the water, ultimately costing the company around $100,000 Australian dollars ($66,000 USD).
Aerial photography gives us a unique perspective even on the scenes that we see every day. But when they capture powerful moments like volcano eruptions and fissures, they make us gasp in awe.
The Drone Photo Awards contest has shared its 2022 winners, and the overall winner shows a volcanic fissure captured from above. It was shot in Iceland and portrays a secondary fissure happening a few hundred meters from the main crater of Fagradalsfjall volcano during its eruptive phase in September 2021.
Snapchat owner Snap Inc. released its first, and likely the last, selfie drone earlier this year. Only four months after it took off the ground, Pixy drone is ready to land – straight into the trash can. According to reports, Snap is ditching any further development of its tiny selfie drone. In fact, it may already be sold out… Forever.
You might have seen some spectacular video footage recently of the latest volcanic eruption in Iceland. A new fissure opened up this month not far from the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano that spent six months erupting in 2021. Professional photographers and drone operators have flocked to capture the event, but of course, mass tourism wasn’t far behind them.
Any active volcano is a dangerous place, and having swarms of visitors, many of whom are not with guides, something was eventually going to go wrong. Professional drone pilot Isak Finnbogason spotted two witless tourists getting far too close while capturing his daily FPV drone footage.
What immediately springs to mind when you think of racquet sports? The excitement of the match? The incredible athletic skill required? Or perhaps the weird grunting that often seems to accompany it? Well not for Award-winning Australian Photographer, Brad Walls. The New York-based photographer has released a new series titled ‘Vacant’. Like his previous series “Pools from Above“, it draws inspiration from his fascination with surrealism and geometric art.
DIYP caught up with Brad to find out more about his new work, what inspires him to create, and what exciting projects he has up his sleeve for the future.
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Chinese drone company DJI has been under scrutiny recently for its drone tracking system after Ukraine’s Vice Prime minister accused it of helping Russia to kill civilians. DJI initially assured users that the system was encrypted, however, evidence has come to light that this is not true, and the information is in fact, free for all to grab.
The system, called DJI AeroScope, allows users to pinpoint the exact location of a drone pilot. Of course, the DJI didn’t intend for it to be used in warfare and has since stopped shipping its products to both Russia and Ukraine.
Snap Inc, owners of Snapchat, have released their new Pixy drone. It’s a tiny “pocket-sized” drone designed specifically for shooting content on Snapchat. This little plastic drone (a term which Snap doesn’t use once in the press release, preferring “flying camera”) doesn’t come with a controller, as it’s designed to basically fly itself and you use the Snapchat app to tell it what to do.
It’s certainly not going to be any kind of competitor to companies like DJI or Autel but for Snapchat users who want a flying selfie camera? Perhaps. Snap says that it offers everything users need “to capture the moment from a new perspective” without having to hold a selfie stick or drag an extra person along just to hold the camera. It weighs only 101g, so falls well under the 250g drone rules and costs only $229.
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