Photography Lighting by Drone

Besides the novelty point of view, I haven’t seen anything about drone photography that interested me creatively. I’m not discounting the discipline, it’s just not a style that interestes me. For street shooting, I could just find the location on Google maps and zoom in, right? That’s until I saw the work of Craig Coker on Instagram last night.

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The featured image on this post is a stunning shot and was done by lighting the scene with a drone, which is in a word: brilliant. So instead of hanging a camera on a drone, you do so with lights.

Again, wow.  And, here’s how it was done from Alpha Universe

Most people know about light-painting in photography. Drone lighting is a lot like that except you’re using a drone to light your subject or scenery from above. What’s great about this is you can create unusual lighting perspectives or even mimic moonlight.

Craig uses an A7R IIwith a 3DR Solo and FoxFury lights. The lights mount directly to the drone using GoPro attachments. The lens is aSony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm. Craig is shooting at f4 and as low an ISO as possible.

Of course, now I’m thinking about the shots I’d take with bikes, drone lights, and the trails.

My daily shooter is Sony A1 with a vertical grip and various Sony lenses attached like the FE 20mm F1.8. Find more gear recommendations in our shop. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.