#PTGUI AERIAL MAPPING FULL#
#PTGUI AERIAL MAPPING PORTABLE#
#PTGUI AERIAL MAPPING ISO#

It goes without saying that shooting conditions are extremely important for doing aerial panoramas. Picking a different aspect ratio might end up cropping your RAW image, which is not what you want! For example, if you use a DJI Mavic drone, you should pick 4:3 aspect ratio, since that’s the native aspect ratio of the drone’s sensor. Just like you should be shooting in RAW format when taking pictures with your camera, make sure to shoot in RAW with your drone! Also, pay close attention to image crop options – make sure not to crop your images and pick the native aspect ratio of your drone’s sensor. Therefore, choose your settings wisely! File Format / Crop Settings Keep in mind that compared to your digital camera, you are going to be working with a small sensor drone that might have much less dynamic range to work with, which will limit your shadow and highlight recovery potential in post. This means that once your focus is solid, you should pan from one side of the scene to another and note any serious changes in brightness – if one part of the sky is too bright, you might want to increase your shutter speed to reduce the potential for overexposure. The last thing you want to end up with is a bunch of out of focus images!Īs we have previously explained in our panoramic photography tutorial, always make sure to keep your exposure and focus settings the same when shooting panoramas. Lastly, make sure to properly focus before your first shot (typically by tapping on the part of the scene that has enough edge contrast) and verify that you are properly focused, especially if you have previously zoomed in or out (if available). Make sure to turn off Auto ISO, as it will mess up your exposures and make it extremely difficult to stitch images later in post.

#PTGUI AERIAL MAPPING ISO#

Since the goal is to generate a high-resolution panorama with as much dynamic range as possible, always make sure to choose the base ISO of the camera, which is typically something like ISO 100. I would not consider such slow shutter speed for a panoramic image, since there is a high risk of getting a blurry image This image was captured at 0.6 seconds in ideal conditions with zero wind. Even though some drones might offer a “tripod” mode, it does not mean that you can shoot long exposures – things like drone rotor vibrations and wind can easily result in enough shake to make images look unusable, so keep this in mind. As a result, the shutter speed you choose will primary depend on several factors such as shooting conditions, drone size / weight and overall drone stability while hovering.

#PTGUI AERIAL MAPPING PORTABLE#

The overall size and weight of the drone does impact its stability in the air, especially when it comes to combating light winds (generally, larger and heavier drones will hover with more stability compared to their portable and lightweight counterparts). This obviously depends on shooting conditions – if there is insufficient light, it might be best to choose a wider aperture rather than longer shutter speed, especially if you are dealing with windy conditions. If your drone has this capability, my recommendation would be to stop down the lens to the aperture that gives you the best detail.

#PTGUI AERIAL MAPPING FULL#

While most consumer-grade drones will feature one fixed aperture, more advanced drones might offer full aperture control, allowing you to stop down the lens to yield better contrast and sharpness. The second variable to consider is aperture.

So if you have a zoom lens on your drone, make sure to zoom in before starting to shoot an aerial panorama. It is simply a lot easier to stitch panoramas that are captured at longer focal lengths. The main reason for this is the same as when shooting panoramas on a tripod with an ultra wide-angle lens – stitching such panoramas can be quite painful in post-processing due to extreme levels of distortion. Now you might be wondering why longer focal length lenses in drones are more suitable for panoramic photography. For example, the Mavic 2 Zoom has a 24-48mm equivalent focal length range, which can be very useful for doing aerial panoramas. While most drones on the market are armed with a wide-angle lens (typically 24mm or 28mm FoV equivalent in full-frame), some have longer lenses, or potentially even offer a zoom range. First of all, you need to look into the focal length of the drone and see what type of panoramic photography you can do with it (typically, the longer the focal length of the drone lens, the better it is for aerial drone photography). The process of shooting aerial panoramas with a drone can be somewhat complex, because there are a number of variables at play. Horizontal vs Vertical vs Multi-Row Aerial Panoramasįocal Length, Focus and Exposure Settings.

Focal Length, Focus and Exposure Settings.

Ptgui aerial mapping