Please let me know what I need to do to improve. Be honest I can take it.

You could start off by posting a video or photos, otherwise it's hard to comment

Boffin Posted at 1-21 18:25
You could start off by posting a video or photos, otherwise it's hard to comment

Haha yup that's a good first step. Thanks for the heads up.

looks good for a first go around...  what sorta critiquing are you looking for editing or handling drone for cinematics? or a bit of both?

ill give ya a free tip not really critiquing ya but just helpful in general:  you can use cinematic mode and/or go slower and smoother, then speed things up and down ias needed in post using video editor.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 1-21 18:48
looks good for a first go around...  what sorta critiquing are you looking for editing or handling drone for cinematics? or a bit of both?

ill give ya a free tip not really critiquing ya but just helpful in general:  you can use cinematic mode and/or go slower and smoother, then speed things up and down ias needed in post using video editor.

Thanks yes either type.
Much of it was flown much slower but I speed it up in editing. So I'll take it as don't do that as much.

Please let me know what I need to do to improve. Be honest I can take it.

Not a fan of Sped-Up video for this kind of subject.  The music runs counter to video, being music is laid back.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-21 19:13
Please let me know what I need to do to improve. Be honest I can take it.

Not a fan of Sped-Up video for this kind of subject.  The music runs counter to video, being music is laid back.

the point of speeding up is you can go really slow much smother to the point its annoying but very smooth then speed it up to a normal pace in post so it maintaining smoothness and feels natural its a good way to get ultra smooth video while still learning all the ins and outs and not crashing trying to be all "pro"

Eagledrone_ny Posted at 1-21 18:54
Thanks yes either type.
Much of it was flown much slower but I speed it up in editing. So I'll take it as don't do that as much.

for flying i suggest turning on cinematic mode in intelligent flight modes this limits  how fast your drone makes sudden movements so more sweeping effect less of a sudden movement to correct.  and when flying try to get what are called "opening shots" which is when you fly up and out towards something like towards the sun setting or  towards a bridge or some subject matter so when your editing you can have an opening shot to transition from.    as you get more involved you can use more things like ND filters and manual setting in your camera more.

as for editing, not much you dont wrong here, well technically nothing you dont wrong here... but i would suggest getting more creative, and also making those colors and lighting pop more, maybe cropping in on the video a bit to engage us more as some of your transitions vs using templated transitions..and yes the music was a good pick here for this flight, so matching music is importamnt

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 1-21 19:13
Please let me know what I need to do to improve. Be honest I can take it.

Not a fan of Sped-Up video for this kind of subject.  The music runs counter to video, being music is laid back.

Ok I see your point. I will redo the speed changes thanks.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 1-21 19:23
for flying i suggest turning on cinematic mode in intelligent flight modes this limits  how fast your drone makes sudden movements so more sweeping effect less of a sudden movement to correct.  and when flying try to get what are called "opening shots" which is when you fly up and out towards something like towards the sun setting or  towards a bridge or some subject matter so when your editing you can have an opening shot to transition from.    as you get more involved you can use more things like ND filters and manual setting in your camera more.

as for editing, not much you dont wrong here, well technically nothing you dont wrong here... but i would suggest getting more creative, and also making those colors and lighting pop more, maybe cropping in on the video a bit to engage us more as some of your transitions vs using templated transitions..and yes the music was a good pick here for this flight, so matching music is importamnt

My speed increases where exactly that. I was in either cinematic mode or in point of interest with a steady speed set, usually the minimum.
I actually have a ND16/PL filter on as it is.
Regarding the colors I haven't yet found a good LUT. I'm using the DJI released one.
I'll practice with the cropping, the few times I tried I didn't love how it turned out. I'll like the idea though thanks again.

A good video needs to tell a story.  What is the story here?

flightlogicRV9 Posted at 1-21 19:53
A good video needs to tell a story.  What is the story here?

Good question. Other than look at this park it's winter the pond is frozen over and there are birds in the non frozen section and a flock of geese flying by. But that's not really a complete story. Once more thank you for the insight.

Nice vid. Kinda looks like bear mt a bit

GroTToFlyeR Posted at 1-21 20:14
Nice vid. Kinda looks like bear mt a bit

Thanks. Nope Staten Island, NY. I'll redo the video with the suggestions.

You start the video from the hover, then start moving forward - don't know why but this doesn't sit well with me. Feels a bit "hey look what I can do with my drone" rather than "enjoy this amazing scenery" - I try to start my videos with the drone already moving. As you fly up the road, it wobbles about a bit, when you are obviously aiming for that smooth look. I'd say if you had to adjust your flight path due to proximity to trees, for example, then you need to bring the drone back and try again until you can film in one continuous straight line (or smooth curve). Try cutting the first 0:09. I'm not a fan of wipe transitions, but that could be a personal thing.

At about 0:41, you tilt the camera down and it looks a bit jerky. Feels like you found the birds and stopped for a longer shot, rather than knowing they were there and filming as you went past, if that makes sense.
0:52 - hover to forward transition again. Maybe it's because it breaks the journey that it doesn't seem natural?

I'm being hypercritical, because you asked. I enjoyed the video, watched it a few times

El Diablo Posted at 1-22 08:27
Your gimbal movements and the overall drone controls, changes of direction are too abrupt (you can tune that through the app).
Unfortunately your subject is uninteresting, boring. You could go to the same location 1-2 hours later to get more beautiful, softer and warmer light. Change your angles and try to give your shots a subject. What are you trying to show, what's your story? I guess you wanted to highlight the frozen lake and the winter trees but you show streets, powerlines and cars instead.

Thanks El Diablo
Much of my flight was with slow gimbal and minimal yaw movements but in my efforts to keep the video short I sped to much of it up. Seems like a recurring theme with what I did wrong. Thank you for your insight.
And thank you for the YouTube link very informative.
Yes the park is boring especially at this time of the year and small so it's hard no to get the local streets in view.
If I could get more shots lower in the park to eliminate that I would have it's a NYC park which I'm not allowed to fly in meaning take off and land but the quirk of it is by FAA law I can fly in the airspace of the park as long as I follow FAA rules and the limiter I had was line of sight.
Which severely limited my range here. So generally it's a bad subject to video.
I'm going to redo the editing with the slower movements make them shorter at the same time.
All good tips thanks just looking to improve. I ask my friends and family and they all say it looks great

spandit Posted at 1-22 08:58
You start the video from the hover, then start moving forward - don't know why but this doesn't sit well with me. Feels a bit "hey look what I can do with my drone" rather than "enjoy this amazing scenery" - I try to start my videos with the drone already moving. As you fly up the road, it wobbles about a bit, when you are obviously aiming for that smooth look. I'd say if you had to adjust your flight path due to proximity to trees, for example, then you need to bring the drone back and try again until you can film in one continuous straight line (or smooth curve). Try cutting the first 0:09. I'm not a fan of wipe transitions, but that could be a personal thing.

At about 0:41, you tilt the camera down and it looks a bit jerky. Feels like you found the birds and stopped for a longer shot, rather than knowing they were there and filming as you went past, if that makes sense.

Yes please be hypocrytical. I ask friends and family and of course they say looks great, that doesnt help me much.
Ill play with the start changing it to moving, I was trying to get the attention to be on the this is the entrance get ready.
Yeah I chickened out a bit with the flight up the road I probably could have left it well enough alone but the tree scraggle spooked me.

Your right the wipe transistions in most cases are very 1990's I suppose.

The adjustment at :41 was oh crap the birds are going to be out of frame on my current path I had it in fly to a point mode and used the screen to adjust drag the gimbal but pulled it out to fast. Partly to blame was the cold fingers.

Great stuff and glad you found something to enjoy about it

Most drone shots we see in movies or short films use straight lines when videoing, also yaw in both directions are pretty simple moves and look the best simply because you don’t see so many jerk movements, for me I would plan moves from A to B keeping straight lines, use Tap Fly as well as straight moves its extremely good for sweeping moves, all of these moves will also help making it easy for you to tilt camera as you were trying to do in the video, point of interest as well as other automatic features will give you a more professional look.

Having said all that your first video was exceptionally good for a first attempt and I’m sure you will find the more you do it the better you will get.

Hi Eagledrone nice video. If you smoothen the move of the gimbal in the settings the overall video will look even better. Thanks for sharing

Nice footage. Thank you for sharing this wonderful video with us. Great job

As someone else mentioned, the shot of the birds from overhead was epic.

All thank you for your time and consideration in helping me with improving my skills. I really appreciate it and I love this hobby. As you all do also.
So I reworked the edit with the same shots but with no speed increases. I do wish I had more footage as I made some errors in flight that I will I'll improve upon based on your suggestions.
Please take a look at the new version it's not perfect but I think better.

Eagleidronography . As an early attempt to learn how to use your machine for a video this is perfectly acceptable footage
Well at least you had the guts to ask for comments and you did not manage to crash. IMHO it's a good start.

You seem to be taking on-board the various suggestions and are willing to learn so best of luck and looking forward to viewing your future videos.

It's a bit of a learning curve, but if you don't ask then you don't learn.

You have the soundtrack down well btw

It's a pity that some of the people who post on this forum never reached out for advice first, all we see is their complaints about lost/crashed drones

Boffin Posted at 1-22 23:17
Eagleidronography . As an early attempt to learn how to use your machine for a video this is perfectly acceptable footage
Well at least you had the guts to ask for comments and you did not manage to crash. IMHO it's a good start.

Not many of us start out at the top performer, right? We all need practice and coaches. I'm thankful for a forum like this for being my coach.
My baseball coach was always yelling at us and told us when we sucked. Haha
I can empathize with the people posting with there desperation of lost drones these are big investments. As such I didn't just jump into flying the amazing M2P.
I started flying a Traxxas Aton and then self made racing drones back in June of 2017.  So I believe I can handle the oh crap moments that will eventually occur.