Drone's Eye View Is Better

During a recent Zoom meeting with students in Connecticut I was questioned about the advantages of using a drone in visual storytelling.

Two photos from today are the best illustration of the difference.

The photo above is Luther Schalk running a tiller through his family’s plot at the Blendon Township Community Garden. Shot with a wide angle to take in the background, Blendon Cemetery. Shot as a Hail Mary with the camera extended at arm’s length above my head to get a slightly elevated position so the cemetery could be better seen and not lost at the horizon line.

On some days this would be a good photo to illustrate a story on the township’s garden plots and the gardener beginning the season.

One of my answers to the student’s question about drone use was to explain that I consider it an elevated photo platform. A way of raising my hands higher than arm’s length to shoot from a raised angle.

It allows the inclusion of background information that can define location and juxtaposition to the surroundings as it does in the photo at the top.

Both photos can be used to illustrate the story. The drone photo works better by adding a background element to expand the story beyond the small garden plot.

Several other elements add to the impact of the drone photo.

It’s backlit. Backlight typically creates depth and dimension to scenics as it does in this photo.

The composition is balanced by the larger garden plots in the foreground and by the volume of cemetery plots in the background.

The roads intersecting in an x at the center are a form of receding lines leading the viewer to the rear of the photo. The car acts as an interruption in the pattern. It’s just off the center of the intersection of the roads making its placement more dynamic rather than at the perfect center.

I wouldn’t need the drone if somehow I could learn to levitate as much as 50 feet into the air.

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