I’m not sure where to ask advice for this but I see some awesome photos on this forum and I have 1 pic straight off the drone (jpeg reduces in dimensions) and my edit of the RAW file (reduced in dimensions).
I’m thinking that there is a general dis-appreciation for too much saturation and artificial ‘funkiness’ but I’ve played around for some dramatic effect by individual photo controls without using auto enhance or filters.
I’m enjoying it but welcome honest feedback about rookie mistakes.
P.S. Today was the day I was going to use my ND’s for the 1t time but bottled it as it started spitting with rain and the grass was long so all auto from that aspect.
These ruins were moved to Cranbury park and reassembled in 1770 if I read it right.
Haha! @macspite (I like what you have done) I could easily end up contradicting myself on this forum as I learn…I forget what I’ve posted and my confidence level and understanding of settings etc are in a whirlwind. I think I get it, then a few weeks later question myself all over again. On this occasion I was videoing as well and that was my primary thought about my new ND’s. That said there was nothing that felt cinematic with motion blur needing them.
In this instance I used Luminar to replace the sky, just playing around with your picture a little. Luminar gives a quick easy edit, but the best post process adjustments I find, are in Lightroom and if Lightroom cant get me what I want, then I finish off in Photoshop. Make no mistake - you will get the best results out of a RAW file (DNG off the Mini 2). A RAW file will collect and save all the Digital Data that you have managed to acquire in your shot thereby you have a greater chance of turning a ‘not so good’ shot into something acceptable when developing/editing. What you end up with though, may be pleasing to you, but not to others. Considering the download of your picture was only a low res JPG file, and no RAW file to work on, then the job that Macspite managed and the one that I managed aren’t too bad, not brilliant but not too bad either. In my opinion, light is everything, I’m not talking about exposure, I’m talking about your scene lighting. if you are shooting on a dull day, then it will always be hard to enhance a picture that is not fully illuminated, but you have more chance with the RAW file than you ever will with a JPG. As for the ND filters, they serve the purpose of throttling the light down or obstructing the light that reaches your camera sensor. They are only useful for a still picture such as your Netley Abbey if you found that there was too much light for whatever reason i.e. if your ISO was set on 100 ISO, and your setting was on the fastest shutter speed and the display still showed that your shot would be overexposed, then there maybe a be a need for the ND filter, OR if you were wanting to get the sun setting over the horizon of your picture. If you have control over the Aperture (which you don’t with a Mini 2), there’s every possibility that the Low ISO coupled with a high shutter speed and a small aperture then you may be able to get the a Sun set on the horizon without the need for ND filters, If that doesn’t serve the purpose; then try to get a shot of the Sun through tree branches where the direct beams of light cannot shine directly into your sensor. The only other reason for the ND filters would be when you intentionally wanted to take a long exposure image, such as getting the milky effect of the surface water of a waterfall, but remember it’s always a hit and miss game - such as will the drone stay still long enough to allow the long exposure that you want - need to play around and hopefully get it right before your battery expires
Anyway, to sum it all up, Process your RAW (DNG) file not the JPG, best first choice for processing I would recommend is that you get Lightroom if you don’t already have it. Developing and editing in Lightroom is totally non-destructive; so you can always go back to the original image and try again if so required. When you do get the hang of the post processing/developing it’s so tempting to overcook the pictures just because they may look sharp and now have an HD effect, that’s something that I am guilty of, I have to ‘hold back’ most of the time, but its so tempting to leave it in that HD super sharp state, it’s not so good!
Hope this helps somewhat
All the best
Graham
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I remember thinking about Luminar a while ago but after looking on you tube tutorials I settled on giving the free ‘Photos’ app on my MAC a go.
I am likely to purchase some software at some point.
but I have no idea how you magic’d away the clouds.
