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To achieve stunning aerial photography, it's important to create a sense of depth with your aerial shots. Read on to learn the tips and tricks to ensure your images are truly unique.
Compared to cameras and smartphones, drones can have a wider field of view, making them perfect for landscape and nature photography.
Shoot from different heights and angles to create a variety of creative shots.
Typically, taking photos directly above the subject results in flat shots, while shooting at an angle creates a stronger sense of depth.
Even shots from a similar angle can evoke different emotions, using water reflections to manipulate space as shown above.
If you're interested in enhancing your images with a sense of depth and space, here are six tips to try:
How to create a sense of space with aerial photography
1. Look for foreground and background
Depending on the distance between the target and the camera, we can divide the space of a frame into foreground, subject and background.
The foreground, as the word itself implies, is the element between the camera and the subject, while the background refers to the elements behind the subject.
Foreground and background naturally create a sense of depth that makes the image more attractive.
You can hide part of the subject behind the foreground to create a clear sense of depth.
Also, remember to include a background to add depth to your photos.
2. Convergence lines
When taking a photo, you can use lines to attract the attention of the audience. Lines can also help create a sense of depth.
Lines that extend or converge to a horizon or boundary can greatly increase the depth of a photograph.
Rivers, roads, bridges and many other line elements, such as long shadows, can also be used to draw people to focus on subjects or certain aspects of an image.
3. Blur your photos
Perspective doesn't just refer to images with objects that are larger in the front and smaller in the back. It also refers to the relative sharpness of these objects in different dimensions. For a DSLR camera, to blur the background, you just need to apply a larger aperture and use manual focus.
However, for aerial photography, since aircraft usually fly at a distance from the subject, it is difficult to blur by adjusting aperture and focus. In these cases, resorting to nature is a safe alternative.
Fog, clouds or even smog from urban areas can add a sense of blur and romance to your photo. Test the limits of your creativity by using natural resources to give your aerial photography that extra touch.
4. Color contrast
In addition to playing with foreground and background, a sense of depth can also be created by using color contrast.
Typically, warm colors reduce the sense of distance, while cool colors do the opposite. According to this method, using warm colors for the foreground and cool colors for the background can maximize depth in your photos.
Colors also affect the perception of space in an image. Lighter colors make the object appear larger and closer to the audience, while darker colors make objects appear smaller and further away.
Because of this, using the contrast between light and dark colors can also add a sense of depth to your photos.
5. Vertical shot
For two images with the same viewpoint and angle, a vertical composition creates a stronger sense of depth than a horizontal composition.
This is because of how objects in vertical compositions appear in a different orientation with more detail.
*Vertical shooting mode is only available with Mavic Pro. For other models, users can use the Pano function to take a vertical shot.
6. Turn reality into a world of "Inception"
Post-processing is another way to add depth to your photos.
In the image above, the photographer distorted a normal 3D space with post-processing, creating a mysterious feeling similar to a scene from the movie Inception.
Inspired by movies like "Inception" and "Dr. Strange", the photographer took 43 photos of Hong Kong and composed them into a magical world.
Although post-processing can be used to enhance depth, not much can be achieved if the original photo does not include the above tips. Take to the skies to try these tips and create photos with depth effortlessly!