CASTLE DRONE PHOTOGRAPHY
Kirsten Ferguson
Flying drones around National Trust castles presents various challenges. Before every flight I determine the best place for a safe TOAL point (Take off and Land) by doing pre-flight checks, necessary to give myself a clear line of sight once my Drone is in the air. The National Trust only allows me to TOAL if I remain outside the grounds, and safely flying around and over the castles is only allowed if all CAA rules are stuck to. By using the Drone Assist app I will always check for various flight restrictions in the area. Whilst the software within the Drone fly app usually stops the drone taking off in a restricted area, this is not always correct so using the Drone assist app is always recommended.
My Drone of choice for castle shots is a DJI Mini 3 pro. This is because the Drone’s weight of under 250g means there are far fewer restrictions around using it. Framing is very important when I'm trying to capture my images. I always take a series of 9 separate images, usually consisting of 3 shots across the bottom, 3 across the middle and 3 across the sky area. Once in my editing software, I’ll stitch these together as 1 large panoramic image, which I’ll then crop to my liking. For stitching I prefer to use a software called Affinity photo, and for my main editing Lightroom & Photoshop.
When posting castle pictures on my social media pages I will always include some history to each image as I feel it allows the viewer to take in the context of the picture. I have many followers from all over the world on my social media pages, and know that most may never be able to appreciate the beauty of the UK’s fantastic castles in person. It is therefore a pleasure to share my passion with each and every one of them.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 7.