My First Drone Photography

I’ve had my eye on drones and drone photography for over 13 years, now. I first discovered them in the early 2000’s when anything that carried a large enough camera which would take really quality images costs over $50,000 and they were pretty difficult to fly. I knew even then that drones could give a unique perspective for architectural and real estate photos but I couldn’t justify the price tag. Well things change fast in electronics and today you can have a quad drone from multiple manufacturers for around $700-$1000 that is more sophisticated than almost anything that was around in 2003. So in October of 2016 I purchased an Autel Robotics Xstar that had all the features I wanted. About that time, the FAA came out with new rules for flying UAS drones (unmanned aerial systems). I proceeded to study hard, got my remote pilots license and started testing out my new aerial camera platform. After some processing and tweaks in my photo software, the images the Xstar produces are incredible! Below are some of my very first shots with my Autel Xstar.