Droning on about perspective

DJI have been making increasingly impressive consumer drones for years, and I have been promising myself one ever since I finished my degree a few years back. I finally got one this spring with the announcement of the Mavic Mini, which weighs a ridiculous 249g including the battery and memory card. Once unfolded and configured, this little drone can fly for up to 30 minutes and easily reach the legal Canadian recreational airspace ceiling of 100m (the app automatically caps altitude, so its easy to safely stay within the limit).

While this little marvel can shoot video and race around at ludicrous speeds, my primary interest in getting one has been to expand the possible results of stereographic photography.

For those of you that aren't as nerdy on the terminology as me, stereographic photography is the end result of shooting 360° panoramas and then re-projecting the image to make a "little planet." I've been shooting these for nearly a decade and think they are really cool, but find that sometimes they over-emphasize the immediate foreground to the detriment of the horizon.

This is entirely understandable since my camera is usually 5.5 feet up and, therefore, there is quite a bit of immediate ground in that perspective. The image below is from the Langdale Ferry Terminal and was shot with my usual fisheye technique.

In contrast, the image below was shot in the exact same spot but from the Mavic Mini at a height of around 80 meters. Not only are the beach and tide line a much smaller proportion of the overall composition, but you can see the islands behind the ferry and terminal as well as the mountains beyond the trees.

DJI has done an incredible job of making a powerful and compact flying camera that I can carry with me on any trip. As an added bonus, its an ideal hobby to take up during times of physical distancing as you're not permitted to fly within 30m horizontally of other people, or over crowds at all, so it's a great excuse to get away from everyone around you. You're also required to keep the aircraft in line of sight at all times, so having a hawk-eyed wife/spotter is highly recommended when you need to focus on getting all your shots right.