6 Best Drone Photography Tips for Weddings

Last updated on Oct 14, 2018 by Brenda Barron Reader Disclosure

Interested in using drone photography for weddings? As more newlyweds look for exciting ways to enhance their wedding photography, aerial shots are becoming increasingly popular.

Drone photography will help you reach new angles and perspectives in your images that you couldn’t get any other way – unless you’re willing to fork out an insane amount for a helicopter.

The widespread availability of drones means that any photographer can take their wedding services to the next level. But, what are the best drone photography tips for weddings?

In today’s article, you’ll learn all the golden rules for excellent wedding photography, including:

• Checking the rules and asking for permission
• Shooting in the right format
• Finding the proper venue
• Using the correct ISO
• Bracketing and Auto exposure
• Preparing to improvise

Let’s begin!

1.     Check the Rules and Ask for Permission

Before you even start talking through shot ideas with your clients, make sure you check the UAV forecast. This will tell you some important information about whether it’s safe to fly a drone above your chosen venue on a particular date.

Get online and learn as much as you can about which areas are off-limits, what the weather is set to be like for the day, and more. If your venue is in a restricted zone, you will need to cancel the flight or take the photos elsewhere.

2.     Shoot in RAW Format

Taking your photos in RAW format will give you more versatility when you’re editing the picture in post-production. This way, you’ll get plenty of uncompressed image date from the camera sensor, so you’ll get a stronger resolution photo.

A higher resolution image will make it easier to make exposure and color adjustments in Photoshop without making your picture seem unnatural. Maintaining RAW format is easily one of the best drone photography tips for weddings.

3.     Choose Venues Suited to Drone Photography

You don’t need to be a drone photography expert to know that an indoor wedding isn’t the best place to showcase your skills. The ideal locations for drone wedding photography are parks, churchyards, islands, and the countryside.

Once you’ve found the venue that works for you, experiment with drone photography. Fly at different altitudes to see which shots work best and take advantage of your surroundings. Look at the world around your subjects as a canvas and see what kind of unique effects you can create. You can even flip the perspective by asking your subjects to lie on the ground while you snap some photos.

4.     Choose a Lower ISO

Another piece of must-have advice for drone wedding photography is to pick a lower ISO. Drone cameras typically have smaller sensors which can’t handle high ISO settings. Unless you’re shooting at night, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding ample lighting, which means that you don’t need high ISO settings anyway.

Simply stick with the lowest ISO you can get, and manually adjust your camera settings to ensure your image is correctly exposed. When shooting in shady and windy places, increase your aperture, or consider using a slower shutter speed.

5.     Take Advantage of Bracketing and Auto Exposure

Some of the latest drone cameras come with Auto Exposure Bracketing features or “AEB” solutions that help you to capture a more dynamic photo. The AEB feature ensures that you can shoot the same photo several times using different settings so that you have a wider range of choices to work with when you’re giving your client their finished portfolio. When you’re browsing through your options, you can then simply select the photo with the best exposure levels.

Remember, when you’re experimenting with things like exposure, you can also consider looking at different aspect ratios too. The 3:2 aspect ratio is the most common for digital cameras, but drone cameras typically stick with 4:3 and 16:9 formats.

6.     Be Prepared to Improvise

Finally, even if you do your best to prepare for the ultimate photo shoot, there’s always a chance that the day won’t go entirely according to plan. One of the best tips we can give is to be prepared to improvise. For instance, the weather may suddenly change, and you may need to alter the mood of your image or prepare yourself to do some editing on Photoshop later.

Alternatively, it may suddenly be impossible for you to shoot in the place you had originally chosen, and that means you may need to look for a new space fast. Be ready to get creative and use all of your skills as a photographer in a new way. Drone photography is a tricky business, but if you get it right, you can end up with some amazing shots.

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