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Advanced Shots with Colin Guinn

Lesson 9 from: Taking Flight: Drone Photography & Video

Jeff Foster

Advanced Shots with Colin Guinn

Lesson 9 from: Taking Flight: Drone Photography & Video

Jeff Foster

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Lesson Info

9. Advanced Shots with Colin Guinn

Lesson Info

Advanced Shots with Colin Guinn

Around a little. Just have you fly the x eight around? We couldn't get the tv. Okay, going on one. Because we've got too many moving moving parts here. Do you have this one set up with some kind of high altitude attitude gains so I can rip it around? Or is it set up? Pretty sluggish. Okay, good. And what is, uh which which mode on here is stabilized. So tell me that again. Stabilize lawyer. Okay, cool. And then and then, uh, out. Hold ok, stabilize loader out stabilising lawyer auto. Ok. No, it's. Fine. Okay, great. So let's, let's just fly this guy around. Yeah. Good. We'll get some footage to go. Pros way. Have no sd card. You want to grab an sd card real quick? I'm throwing in here, um that that was on my check. My preflight checklist. You because I'm telling you I'm actually going out to a location that work and didn't have an sd card didn't even have one in my case. Well, that's, what's nice. Is this? And that's what's nice about checking on your tv because the gopro will output w...

hether or not it's rolling you get you know, I I use that role counter as kind of my flight timer so yeah, I do that too. All right? We have nasty card. Great. Uh it's on nine sixty wide, so I'm assuming you want me to change that right? Uh, you go like two point seven k or anything this is, uh, looks like a silver. Okay, never mind, so we'll go. Ten, eighty, eighty one, eighty, sixty wide is good. Fine. Yeah. That's fine, actually, all the cool exciting I can actually play some slo mo and stuff with it. So let me great. Okay, great. Ten, eighty, sixty one. Excellent way. Okay, let's, get this guy in their way. So, it's nice about exit is that, um, it really just doesn't mind the wind, you know, you know, just size hardly moving at all. It's like moving that direction you're pointing? Yeah. It's a really, really compact octa copter you know, that's amazing. Yeah, so it's set up. This one has set up a little bit sluggish for my taste in the settings you khun set up toe really rocket ship around, I like to have my games kind of juiced up uh you can handle it yeah yeah the average person just haven't diving into the ground faster yeah question what is from josie w a collective pitch roader I figure that might be coming so a collective pitch multi roeder is instead of varying the speed of the prop which is a fixed pitch propeller so you know when you're flying a multi road around all you're doing is quickly changing the speed of each motor which creates different levels of thrust and different levels of rotational torque promoter now with a collective pitch you actually fly at a fixed rpm and instead of adjusting the speed of the prop you adjust the pitch of the prop so you would use like the tail rotor's off of ah off of ah off of like a traditional helicopter and so you can actually just the amount of thrust in the amount of torque near instantaneously and the reason I said a quad roader that's collective pitch could stay in the air with one motor being lost is that you can apply negative collective to the opposing roder and then it would basically spend really really quickly in a circle but it could stay in the air because that that third roeder could be adjusting from negative to positive pitch to keep it to keep it level yeah thank you. Okay let's have a little battle with this guy what do you think it's a game of drones gaming drones ways that the ex a and like you said with the exit it's just, um the nice thing about it is just that you know you can't fly this where he's dave early yeah lotion on so I just really easy to fly yeah, beautiful y sixty I mean, I think my favorite one to fly is probably the y six you know, it's a hot rod I love the shape of it orientation why is it so easy to see which way it's pointed it looks like a guy just flying through the air like that, you know, it's, right? But yeah, do you wanna take that in there? Um I don't know if we have the control for that was a mapping. Why? Six right there? Yeah. Um so I don't know if we have that controller. Yeah, way had mine off the table controllers right next to mine and minds ready to fly so I know we can do that, so I just won't have pvt. Well, what we're getting just great great question on the final an ac remote and do flips with that or does the counter prop balloting you know you can but even in akron but it's kind of tough to get him to actually flip all the way over, um but but no you you can have in the co actual props doesn't change it from being able to flip you know what you want to do is really get a lot power and then I generally go from you know, crosswise like kind of like front right or back left or front left you know one of the corners and as you go into your flip you wantto come off your throttle way after dark kind of throw it over and then catch it with rana once it's done flipping so yeah, you can still flip it with the co axial process. Yeah. Um wait no if if I just why sixes all set up yeah, yeah, I'll let you just take over and do your normal all right? And do we have are you on? Very so again you can actually make this thing fly significantly more agile that it is now this is actually set up pretty you know, pretty docile is well, right? Well, for somebody like me that's new to this particular craft yeah it's still a little wild, so after I practice awhile I'll probably want to help those settings too, but right now, that is just amazing it's ripping through here like a stealth fighter tie fighter ah that's, not a bride be doing anything not on purpose anyway, huh? So what's that good you got a question yeah just wanted teo talk a little bit more about um you know now we're starting to get into howto fly but what are some of the additional techniques now you start to fly to get those the shots that you want so maybe talking through some of the different shots and maneuvers well he's gonna be circling the the light paul right now okay and our tv viewers should be able to see some of that as well. Um circling he's he's doing a dolly shot around a fixed object so you have let's say we check out your lawyer working okay so say we want todo a shot around this life all right let's get switched thumbs here okay, there is the light booth so what I can do is I can keep the light pole in frame as I rotate around I think all these antennas there yeah breaking hat on me all these power lines are getting so I don't think we're gonna we're not gonna really get it with this f tv right now we've got uh a little bit too much interference and actually you know what it probably is you said we're on the same channel as you guys, right? Yes since we were both on the same channel right? We've got to feed the transmitter sending down right and they're competing for each other's band with wayne weii we wanted to do like a wraparound shot of us you know when and where we're standing this this building so we'll go ahead and go into a law order mode I'm gonna back it up a little bit and again it's kind of nicely have things come through your shot right so we're gonna do is we're gonna have it so that this palm tree comes to our shop just like we were talking about earlier right so what I could dio is look here in my screen and as I wrap around all I have to do is it just me y'all stand just doing like a really, really slowly on the law ah yeah a little heavier on the aileron yeah because I'm making a big circle right and so it's just slowly wrapping around us and you can see on my screen here we get that nice a wraparound shot yeah definitely that's gonna be a nice compelling shot and then we could just zoom it in here come right in between the tree way it was steve and some of their total new ese who are asking what scuba stands online giving steve what is yeah for people in plain english yo is rotating of the craft yeah it's justice if you have a center pin on the craft and you spin it it's it's the uh and that's done with the left stick going back and forth left to right the left stick is left to right left and right are your yacht controls which you're spinning it and uh forward backwards are your acceleration and deceleration deceleration which is your lift and you're you're uh lan um and then of course the right stick is forward left right and back and our last segment um stephen we craft is gonna go over a lot more of that with us with his, uh copters will so we'll have more of those moves coming up broken down in plain english as well. Okay, so we got some really alright really cool shots off some nice shots there. Yeah. Uh huh. You're just missing a couple of streets here in here in your landing gear. Yeah, I noticed that. So you got a screw loose next two handed operation? Yeah, so that I noticed that see this I think I bumped something once and that came down and we'll take a look at it for you. Also, I think we can bump up your gains a little bit to see how it's kind of yeah, wobbling around a little bit as I was coming in here. Sure, we can bump up the game so that allow the copter basically what those gains do is allow the copter teo fight more aggressively against the wind, okay, so wait till you see this thing after we use at the games that's great I'm locked and you know I write for pro video coalition yeah there's a lot of people who follow me no that's right uh and I'm actually going to be doing a full review on this copter um so yeah if I have the best experience pop I'm gonna be able to really tested for what it counts you instead of just go out there and crash exactly happens anyone this's well that's great we'll get this thing teo very cool I'm excited about that that's great excellent so what's nice is the other question that's great good kind of specifically on the three tr y six it is in my understanding that trying copters are a little better for filming because they offer better yeah or flat rotational control and also like smoother panting so smooth air y'all control because of the because of the variable motor mountain right is that what you mean yes and it is that I also sure of the y six as well well are you saying like is that true of the y six as and it looks like a tri copter nys like does it kind of behave it's behaves I would say kind of a mix between a tri copter and a normal hexham because it's still it's still using torque teo do all of its yard and rather than than a servo controlled rear motor and so you know that that kind of harkens back to the collective pitch comment earlier is that a servo can move so quickly and so accurately that's why those try countries had that really great locked in your control, right? The only problem with tri copter is is that you've got just another mechanical right? You know, lincoln's that if that you know and which they do quite often the servos are being put under a lot of torque and line a lot of loads so if that certain that servo fails, you know, which does happen from time to time yeah, I think so, yeah, but no, absolutely the tri copter is when they're set up right and and the service they're doing their job everything's you know, clean on them they have amazing y'all authority. So if you were doing something more along the lines of cinematic filming rather than mapping the y six might be a better option than yeah, potentially so absolutely yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks. Primarily shoot video. So that's what I'm gonna be testing it with and I also understand because these scenes air you can modify these so many configurations that's right with them uh, there's a away because you have this built in uh ftv that's, right seeing a switch between two switch between the two and program that india controller girl? Oh, yeah, and be able switchback force you can do some some really tight, be flying, right? And then you're living in town or whatever exactly excited some testing. Just the test shots in trying to just fly over a creek bed. Yeah, just using that for ftv and it's, like the ones that didn't change my altitude. And I knew it wasn't anything like it. Still kind of keep it lined up. Yeah, but tow have the ability to switch back and forth. I just think that's that's phenomenal. Yes. Really handy. That's really great. Absolutely got another question online are, well, what we would love to know, colin is what are we demonstrated? A number of different shots. What are your top five? If they're five go to shots maneuvers for okay, I would say, you know, vertical revealed is that it is a staple that you've gotta have, you know, find something in your foreground. I want to reveal the bridge right there. I'm gonna start where you can't see it and then move up. You know, it's, probably at an angle or forward at an angle. And what what what I'm looking for is something toe wipe through frame and kind of come out and see, you know, my my subject matter whether that's the golden gate bridge or the bay bridge or you know whatever I happen to be trying to reveal so I think that one's a key um wraparound shot is a staple you know get good at that because if you could get that subject in the center of the frame and you're wrapping around you just there was a there was a citibank commercial uh where a friend of mine was operating senate flex on and I think they just did such a great job of that because they they were flying our full scale helicopter they zoomed weigh in on this female rock climber and moab at the er you remember the name of those spires fisher towers and she climbs up to the very top I don't know if any of you guys seen that commercial and she climbs up to the very top of this tower and she's like, you know, standing on the top and they are green screen and they're really on their wrapping around her with this helicopter and they resumed way in honor and you just sit all this parallax in the background behind her and that's me assistant super compelling shot um I like I like boom up while looking straight down it's kind of fun sometimes I'll throw a little bit of y'all rotation into that so look straight down on your subjects start really down low this one is one of the only shots that I like to use gps voter loiter mode in because you could just tell the copter to go straight up and it will fight the wind and just rise straight up so I'll start really low start rising my altitude and then after I'm raising for a few seconds you know what I sometimes is a really cool tip that you guys will really enjoy um so instead of if I want to do like a really slow continuous rotate or y'all move um instead of having to just really make this little tiny fine adjustment with the stick, I'll actually use the trim and go like one two, three four clicks to the left or four clicks to the right and then that'll make it just slowly you know y'all or rotate at a very set rate and if you're looking straight down you get that nice, you know? And when you're doing when you're doing a raising shot looking straight down, the tendency will be teo too fast and then when you watch it later you're like, oh, I got it was too fast, you know? So you really want a slow slow your um you know, so that down was kind of a fun one, you know, looking down at something and booming from way far away and coming right in on it is another nice shot um and then what else do I say number five for like key aerials um I think a really nice one is like an aerial dolly where say we were we were shooting this location here I would do maybe like a dolly shot just on the back side of these palm trees and just dolling straight across looking at us and having the palm trees wipe through frame, you know, really, really close to frame that that's uh that's always nice as well and that's kind of like just like if you were setting up dolly tracks up in the air right there and and that was a great example of something you could do with waypoint one of the things that we didn't show today, which is really nice is I could set up a waypoint mission that just goes across the line of these palm trees just on the other side of him at that altitude and what's neat about the three robotics platform which is the only one I know of that does this is while you're on a waypoint mission you can control y'all, right? Well, it's a wallet doing a television? Yeah, exactly. So if you have a two access go program or something like that, you can actually control the yaw of the copter just looking at your tv screen so you've got till in your control while it's on the autonomous mission so say if it was just doing that line I could just be slowly yawing to the right to keep us in frame you know and just tilt as needed so that's another fun shot and task very good stuff any more from you no I that's that's that's wonderful tips I'm actually gonna try some of those two yeah that's great. What were some of the hardest things when you first started out jeff that you were, um like challenges that you were overcoming keeping it in the air number less same challenge I had when I was starting everybody does yeah, yeah that's that's the beauty of this gentleman's been flying a long time and he's got a lot of hours I have only been flying for about two years and it hasn't been like every day it's been like, sometimes it's only been once or twice a month. So it's a matter of just really getting the hours and in practicing practicing these kind of shot, you know? And I try some of that and and I go out almost every time I go out there and I tried to do one of those yes circle shots and I'm trying trying and it's like, okay, well, I could blame it on the way and I'm I know I'm being blamed it I'm not getting enough hours at the sticks and so yes it is it is matter of knowing what kind of shots you want but also kind of exploring and discovering the shots that show up in your f p v monitor to meet I've been surprised at that where I just kind of go on flying over there I'm like I was gone oh would that be cool if I was just a little bit over here because I can't see from here I see the copter but it's like that tree would look a lot better there and if I just drop down and then use your pee vita to frame us and then moving so a lot of stuff you kind of discover in the field which looks good but also obviously having a plan especially go out there and practise practise these moves practicing in wind because ninety nine percent of time you're not gonna be able to control any conditions where you're flying you know and maybe maybe one hundred ten degrees out in vegas and you're dealing with wind and like the wind knocks down our uh mike uh antenna there so medium live yeah that's right we're live here folks so that's yeah that's it I was speaking to that point to when he talks about practice and getting the hours and I would strongly suggest not doing all of your practice with like you're fully kitted out perfect camera rig you know build up a cheap quad, you know, like a little do it yourself quiet, we have little we have doing yourself quite kits that are extremely inexpensive by an old phantom on craigslist. It's beat up, you know, the phantom one, you get him for a couple hundred bucks, you know, get something like that as your trainer ship, and that way, you know they're lighter weight, they don't have a bunch of gear hanging from him, which makes him more nimble and also makes him more durable because when they crash, there's a lot less mass behind that crash, and so, you know, I'm a huge proponent of having, like, you're shooting kid, that you are going out to, like, get footage with, but if you're just practicing grabbing old phantom, grab a three d r quad kids something like that that you could get up in the air for really inexpensive, maybe throw a little f p v camera on it like one of these. They're super cheap. They're super light that where you can practice flying off of monitor and that that will save people a lot of heartache, because when you crash one hundred dollars for the gear in the air, it's like I, whatever it's, practice getting a rebuilding, you know, maybe twenty or twenty five dollars a replacement parts and your back up in the air, you know? And so to me, I think that's a really good idea is to have your have your practice ship for practicing, flying and having your shooting set up and like you, you don't want any grass on those props, you don't want any nicks and the props, any kind of nick's or anything like that in your shooting set up will cause vibration in the footage. So you know, if you tip over your copter a couple times, even just getting a little bit of grass and having the copter, you know, the proper blade just barely been out of tracking will cause vibration, so on that shooting set, you want everything to be pristine, perfectly brand new props have never touched the ground that I've never flown through a set of bushes or some got stuck in a tree because with your practice that you'll get stuck in trees, you'll fly in the bushes and the thing will fly just fine, so you'll think it's it's fine. But, you know, a lot of times, if people do that in there shooting set up, they don't notice it like, man, how come I get these like wavy black lines in my footage that's actually the early signs of rolling shutter okay and vibration your footage so and usually that's cause from your props getting hit against the ground or having stuff on him or whatever we'll call and thank you so much we have so much in this one short little session here um tell everybody about three d robotics where they confined you where they can follow you sure absolutely latest and greatest yeah three d r dot com so three d r dot com or three robotics dot com and uh you know you can check out all of our equipment there you know what's really, really cool is the pixar and the platform we're doing some really neat things with the platform um you know, all these kickstarter campaigns there'sa saying they do follow me technology like heck so plus or air dogs or tri copter that mini copter they're all using our platform so you know, this is kind of the open stores autopilot platform that we want to be accessible to the world and anyone can use it for free any manufacturers because you use it for free and we're doing some really, really neat things in the near future with, um with kind of just gather reminding all that data and being able to provide real time log analysis so after I fly each one of these flights and I'm connected to my tablet that log file gets automatically uploaded to a thing called drone share so drone share dot com is actually you can see it now. It's an alfa but it's live online and you can watch all the flights that we did here. Will we'll upload a drone share dot com and you can actually download that entire flight to google earth and play it in google earth and watch the entire flight so we'll be able to do things in the near future, like, right after you fly if you land, say, one of your motors is drawing too much and draw because it's got a bad bearing or something like that, we can actually send a push notification to your phone that says, hey, check motor number two, you know, it's it's drawing too much am draw something's going on there, it's gonna it's gonna fail soon. So, you know, we really want to build that platform and, you know, I think you'll learn a little more about that with pick sock and you know, d I y drunk a little bit more tomorrow morning for something to talk about the future and and what your what your vision is, oven and that's exciting for me too. So take a look at some of the some of the clips from today, too, so exciting.

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Ratings and Reviews

fbuser da1b2c58
 

This is a great course! This workshop was very professionally put together. This was my first experience with CreativeLive and I was impressed at every turn with how well everything turned out. The content was engaging, the guests and instructor gave out many many useful tips on responsible drone operation... I can't say enough great things about this course. I'll be watching many of the segments over and over again to pick up all of the quick golden tips that were shared, as well as picking up the proper industry terms for types of shots, or piloting techniques. Very impressive! Thanks to Jeff Foster, his guests and the entire crew of Creative Live for making this happen. Simply Amazing!

a Creativelive Student
 

Not for experienced/informed pilots looking for the next level. It was a good intro for those new to the concept of UAV's in photo/video but never got specific enough about maneuvers, equipment, or shooting styles to be useful. The outdoor flying was a complete mess. Demos of what the equipment looked like, not how to best use it creatively. Glad I watched it live. The chat rooms were very informative.

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