Latest work exploring low-light drone photography

As part of my ongoing Dronescape project, I have recently been exploring the capability of the drone to capture images in low light. 

The time of day often referred to as ‘The Magic Hour’ by landscape photographers, isn’t an hour at all. It’s a frustratingly brief and fleeting period roughly 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after sunset where the ambient light on the ground roughly matches that of the sky. With careful planning and timing, and most importantly the right weather conditions, I have been sending the drone up over Looe to capture some late evening views of the town.

Low light drone captures are only possible when the wind permits. Unfortunately the quality of the camera doesn’t allow for high ISO shooting and the need to work with slow shutter speeds requires the drone to hover steadily without being buffeted by the wind. The longer exposures produce some image noise which limits the quality in print, but this is an interesting avenue that I will continue to explore.

I continue to be drawn to the romantic notions of the Picturesque, interested in how drone photography can reveal new and potentially beautiful perspectives on the landscape. Scenic picturesque combined with colourful sunsets is potentially a double cliche trap, but I enjoy making the images and viewers of my work seem to like them.