The introduction of aerial video and still photography at ashleycorr.com is a new and exciting venture that adds a new dimension to my work. The first time encountered commercially available drones I was fascinated by what they were capable of producing through an onboard camera. This hawkeye view of a world below, captured in all its glory, was inaccessible until the introduction of these new toys, so I had to delve deeper to gain a better understanding of what this new craze was all about.

I done a lot of research on the DJI Phantom range of quadcopters after narrowing my choice of interest down to one in particular - the Phantom 3 Advanced. It had all the tools and fitted the bill perfectly. It wasn't too long before I had one in my hands and the only thing left to do was get the thing in the aiir. Undeniably it was a nerve wracking experience - I had read quite a few horror stories regarding drone fly away's and crashes, but within a few minutes of my first flight I was more than comfortable. The controls were very straightforward to use and I was very impresssed with the stability of the aircraft, even at high altitude. Operating the drone and the camera at the same time was a bit tricky, especially on the move, but that became much easier with practise.

The drone has a set of intelligent flight modes which allow you to program your own flight paths, point of interest and waypoints. I've been experimenting with these and my aerial video page is the place to see it being put into practise. As for still photography, the onboard camera has capability of producing top quality RAW files, as well as JPEG. The Sony EXMOR cam captures bracketed shots as well as HDR. It has manual and automatic controls, giving the pilot that extra flexibility when shooting conditions require that extra helping hand. The whole drobne experience has been excellent so far and I have many ideas floating around for video production, as well as the obligatory still photograph, so stay tuned and keep an eye out for my aerial gallery updates!