Up in the air
Amazing aerial shots with a Nikon and a drone
Ever since picking up my first camera in 1977, I have been interested in photography. I turned professional in 2003 and have covered a variety of subjects from ground level, an eight-metre tripod, and I’ve shot photographs from aircraft. However, I was very keen to come up with a platform for aerial photography that didn’t require an aircraft – I wanted something I could fly in my own time and capture rural scenes from above.
My drone is an interesting piece of kit – it’s a 3DR Solo drone that was originally fitted with a gimbal and an action-type camera, which was great for video but not so good for stills. As I am a stills images photographer, I wanted a better camera on the drone with a bigger sensor, but one that was still light enough to achieve 15 minutes of flight time and be controllable from the ground.
I made a 3D-printed mount that could hold my Nikon J5 mirrorless camera with 10mm f/2.8 lens. The mount has a servo to control the tilt of the camera; I had to wire this into the existing system and change some programming. The Nikon J5 is nice and light, and has an HDMI Out connection, so I can see what I am photographing from the ground. At first I used the intervalometer to activate the shutter every 15 seconds, but the results were hit-andmiss. Since then I’ve added a second servo to activate the autofocus and shutter.
The drone is something
I had been slowly developing over the past 18 months. I am lucky enough to live in rural New South Wales, Australia, on a small 40-acre farm, which has allowed me the space to learn to fly the drone and develop shooting techniques from an aerial platform.
Every two years the National Historical Machinery Association run a Tractor Trek, which involves vintage tractors visiting a particular location for
Mission: Photograph rural landscapes from the air with a drone and custom-mounted Nikon camera Photographer: Rob Power Location: Rural New South Wales, Australia Kit: Nikon 1 J5, Nikon 10mm f/2.8, 3DR Solo drone Website: www.robertpower.com.au
a few days, travelling a pre-planned route. I was hired to capture imagery for the 2018 National Tractor Trek held in Young, about 60km from home [1]. I started thinking about the photographs I wanted to capture. I visited the area and drove the route of the treks, at approximately the same time, to get an idea of lighting and sun position. I also marked GPS locations of areas I wanted to shoot along the way, and hoped the weather would be similar on the days of the event.
The other day, while driving back from Canberra, I spotted a canola paddock. I thought the view might be interesting from the air, so I contacted the farmer and went out for an early-morning fly. The shot was taken quite a distance from the road, but that was no problem for the drone. I thought this might look especially good in monochrome [2].
I took another shot of the same field, but this time remotely tilting the camera platform straight down for a bird’s eye view to capture the geometric lines and shapes of the windrowed field [3].
Flying a drone is enjoyable but also challenging, depending on conditions and the surrounding area. I have a pre-flight checklist that I always use when flying the drone for safety and to double-check things like ‘is the memory card installed?’ Or, ‘is the battery fully charged?’
Being in a rural area, there are lots of light aircraft and crop dusters at low altitudes to be wary of. I am registered with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority and follow the rules and regulations for operation of a sub-2kg drone.