My Drone’s Opinion on My Photography Skills: Needs Improvement

Hello pilots of love, pilots of life. I am Rafa and in today’s flight, I’m going to be your pilot.

Your DJI Drone won’t compose in your behalf

Has it ever happened to you that when you fly your drone at a specific tourist spot with other people around, your pictures are… let’s say it in a way that doesn’t hurt your delicate little hearts too much… lacking talent?

Oops. That wasn’t soft, Rafa. That was like a blow to the gut. Ugly and painful.

Yeah. It was ugly. And painful. And that’s the way it should be. We cannot put makeup on everything, especially when it’s something we need to correct. Like photography skills.

Your ability to afford a drone that “makes good pictures” doesn’t equal you creating good images. Those are two totally different things.

The fact that your drone has a good sensor, quality optics, and even decent software that calculates the best exposure settings has nothing to do with whether the drone operator has the knowledge to compose images through visual language and is crystal clear about what they want to show.

Don’t be this chef

Can you imagine being a chef and just walking into a kitchen, grabbing some random ingredients and start mixing them without knowing if you’re going to make stamppot, omelette du fromage, arepas, bitterballen, or a plain ham and cheese sandwich?

You’d probably end up with something that looks like it belongs in a science experiment gone wrong, not on a dinner plate.

You need to know what you’re going to cook. And you need to know what you want to do with your drone, with your time. And with your life.

Here’s the million-dollar question: Do you fly for enjoyment, or is someone paying you to deliver excellent images?

Straight to Jail

If you’re working for someone who is paying you real money (not “exposure” – because exposure doesn’t pay rent) for your images, and you’re not delivering the absolute best you can do, then my friend, you should drive to the closest police station and turn yourself in because what you’re doing is a crime against art itself. You should go…

And if you’re doing this for yourself, to enjoy the act of making the best pictures of places you love visiting, and you’re still not delivering your absolute best, then you should uninstall all those distracting apps from your phone and start studying how to give your absolute best. Because let me tell you something that’s going to make owners of expensive drones mad – and at this point, I really don’t care about their feelings – the difference in the pictures YOU create lies in the operator, not in the flying camera.

Think about it this way: a $5,000 drone in the hands of someone with no artistic vision is like giving a Stradivarius violin to someone who’s never heard of Mozart. Sure, it’s a beautiful instrument, but the music coming out of it might make your neighbors call the police for noise complaints.

Spent more money on gear? That won’t help

Many people try to compensate for their lack of talent with expensive gear. What if, for once, you invested in teaching yourself to be a better artist? What if you spent half the money you’re planning to blow on that new gimbal stabilizer on actual photography courses instead? Your drone might actually thank you for it.

The truth is, understanding composition, lighting, storytelling, and visual flow will transform your aerial photography more than any piece of equipment ever could. Your drone is just a tool – you are the artist wielding it.