During the course of filming the last few scenes for my drone video compilation, I also made sure to capture a couple of photos showcasing the landscapes that would eventually end up in the video.
While the still quality of the Mavic Pro isn't especially great, you can still salvage some photos in decent light (and shooting in .RAW...obviously). You'll notice that I haven't used it for any low-light shooting, but maybe I'll have to wait to get a Mavic Pro 2 for that.
Anyway, enjoy the photos below that were all taken over a few days.
This photo was taken early one afternoon, looking back towards the mountains and the mandatory afternoon thunderstorm. Summers in the Drakensberg mountains generally always feature an afternoon thunderstorm, that generally disappears as quick as it arrived.
Moving from an early afternoon photo straight to an early morning photo, here we can see part of the resort I stayed at. I was up at 4am every morning to shoot the great light that reflects off the mountains at sunrise, and decided to turn the drone around for a change and capture a more "corporate" photo.
Speaking of the great sunrise light on the mountains, you can see it for yourself here. This morning had quite a red glow to the sunrise, which may have had something to do with the clouds hanging around. All other mornings had clear skies, giving a more yellow-golden glow. You'll see it a few photos down.
I took this photo not too long after arriving at the resort, and was just taking a general fun flight. My parents were staying nearby, and seemed quite interested in seeing my drone work - neither of them had seen such a device before... especially my dad (who wasn't impressed by the cost) watched the entire flight and asked plenty of questions about the functionality.
Originally, I wasn't too fond of this angle, but I eventually grew to like the "layered" appearance of the mountains here. While it may not feature the most impressive peaks of the mountain range, the lighting and overall feel of the picture still makes it a worthy addition here.
Remember how I said the storms can pass over in the blink of an eye? It took maybe half an hour for this enormous cloudbank to make its way all across this frame. If you get caught outdoors in the Drakensberg, best you be prepared for some fast changes in weather.
To round off this photo series with, here's a final sunrise photo. You can clearly see the colour difference here when compared to the previous sunrise one posted above from a different day. Just goes to show how the same location can look entirely different - thanks to the weather.
| Camera | DJI Mavic Pro |
| Processing | Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC |
| Location | Drakensberg, South Africa |
