Aerial phototography rules (for the use of light devices)

[Emanuel]

  Very true.

3 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Nice shots but.....

Title of video : I Got Arrested in Rome - What Every EU Drone Pilot Needs to Know before flying

1st line of description : I Want to tell you my story on how I got almost arrested in Rome twice even with a drone permit.

Join us next week for my video "I Got Arrested in Madrid" where I detail precisely how I absolutely, positively didn't get arrested in Madrid either. 

The stupid thing about the shamelessly clickbait title is that it is actually an informative video that didn't require it. 

 

 

[kye]

20 hours ago, herein2020 said:

I have been flying commercially since 2014, here in the USA the countrywide laws are pretty reasonable, the drone has to be registered, below 55lbs, and if you are flying commercially you need to be Part 107 licensed. Also, the maximum altitude is 400' AGL unless you are within 400' of a structure taller than 400' at which point you can fly up to 400' above the highest point of the structure.

There are some other restrictions such as flying over nonparticipants, restricted airspace, obtaining LAANC approval, etc. but much more reasonable IMO than many other countries I have seen.

I have way more problems with the arbitrary local ordinances. Local governments make it very difficult to fly in parks, from city streets, etc. by restricting the ability of drones to take off or land on "their" property. Local governments cannot control the airways (this is the domain of the federal government which is regulated by the FAA), so instead they prevent you from taking off or landing. 

A fun loophole that doesn't work very often but is sometimes possible is when there is something you want to film but it is a restricted area but within flying distance from a non-restricted area. I once wanted to film a historic lighthouse on government property that banned drones so I simply crossed the street to a private parking lot and took off and landed in full view of the government employees and there was nothing they could do about it. Now if the drone had crashed or ran out of battery and landed on their side of the street I would have been in trouble.

Recently the FAA even relaxed a lot of the night flying restrictions and so now I am able to fly commercially at night as well.

What I don't understand is the people who blatantly flaunt the laws then post videos on YT showing every detail of how they are breaking the law, right down to distance, altitude, GPS location, etc. This guy is without a doubt the biggest shining example of such stupidity. He got the largest fine to date which was $185,000USD for over 123 drone law infractions AFTER the FAA sent him multiple warnings and even sent him to a class about drone safety.

And this guy is just the tip of the iceburg, there are countless "range test" videos on YT where people show every detail as their drone flies over people, near buildings, way beyond VLOS, etc. I don't think there is a single person who owns a drone who hasn't broken one of the rules at some point but posting full details and video of it borders on lunacy in my book.

As far as interesting stories, I used to shoot a lot of real estate photos and videos and I had a few situations where angry homeowners would approach me or threaten to call the cops because the drone was "hovering" over their property. I would tell them to go ahead feel free to call anyone they wanted because I am commercially licensed, insured, have the proper air clearance, and have no interest whatsoever in any property except the one that is about to be for sale. That approach has always diffused the situation (so far) and I even gave a few of them my business card and told them to call me when they need to sell their property.

I was also filming an event once and had the local police come running over to me to tell me to bring my drone down immediately because I was flying directly over the concert attendees and way too close to people. I calmly opened my drone case and showed them that my drone wasn't even in the air and showed them my flight path which was to simply hover over the water and parking lot nowhere near people; they let me keep flying my drone.

Another fun time was when I was filming a car race event at night and someone else was flying a drone there as well. My drone has the ability to turn off all of the lights which I did before taking off. The other drone pilot had a DJI drone which does not have this ability and his drone was hovering right over the cars and people with lights flashing all over the place. I hear the announcer state over the loudspeaker that whoever was flying the drone needs to land immediately and come see him. So he landed and got kicked out of the event while no one knew mine was silently hovering 100' higher up but was impossible to see at night.

I have drone stories for days, but those are two of the most memorable for me.

Great post.

Before I got into video I did some street photography and two of the "rules" I used to use were:

1) if the person you're shooting sees you then make eye contact, smile, and say "thank you"

2) If the person asks you to delete the shot then smile and say "sure" and just do it

There's lots of talk online about the first one and the general theory (which fits my experience) is that people don't know what to think when they see someone out shooting photos and so they look to you to determine how to react and what to think about it, so by smiling you're indicating that you're a calm and well-intentioned person (rather than a threat) and by saying thanks it makes them feel good because you're indicating they've done you a favour (which they have) and doing things for other people who seem nice gives people a nice feeling.
If you're asking people for permission beforehand (which some people prefer) then a compliment is often a great icebreaker like "I love your hat/shirt/look/smile - would you mind if I took a quick photo?", as once again, people see that you're a calm person, its flattering (presumably they also like the hat they're wearing, or whatever you mentioned), and it explains why you might want to take a photo of them.
I remember that people are often calmed if you give them a business card too, as it's "proof" that you're legit and not up to no good.

Remaining calm and having an answer ready goes a long way it seems.  Still, confrontation isn't something that I'm particularly fond of, so I tend to avoid it where I can.

In terms of flying drones, I think it seems like a reasonable income stream if you're willing to go through all the hoops to get registered etc, and then do enough flying to justify getting certified etc.  For me, I'd spend about 3 hours flying per country I'd be visiting - the absolute worst type of bureaucracy-to-flying ratio imaginable!

18 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Nice shots but.....

Title of video : I Got Arrested in Rome - What Every EU Drone Pilot Needs to Know before flying

1st line of description : I Want to tell you my story on how I got almost arrested in Rome twice even with a drone permit.

Join us next week for my video "I Got Arrested in Madrid" where I detail precisely how I absolutely, positively didn't get arrested in Madrid either. 

The stupid thing about the shamelessly clickbait title is that it is actually an informative video that didn't require it. 

Yeah, I skipped through the video looking for him to get arrested - had he not mislabeled it I might have relaxed and watched it more thoroughly.  Still, clickbait works - just ask the people who have written headlines for tabloid newspapers and pamphlets for the last, say, 300 years!

[leslie]

23 hours ago, kye said:

Great post.

Before I got into video I did some street photography and two of the "rules" I used to use were:

1) if the person you're shooting sees you then make eye contact, smile, and say "thank you"

2) If the person asks you to delete the shot then smile and say "sure" and just do it

There's lots of talk online about the first one and the general theory (which fits my experience) is that people don't know what to think when they see someone out shooting photos and so they look to you to determine how to react and what to think about it, so by smiling you're indicating that you're a calm and well-intentioned person (rather than a threat) and by saying thanks it makes them feel good because you're indicating they've done you a favour (which they have) and doing things for other people who seem nice gives people a nice feeling.
If you're asking people for permission beforehand (which some people prefer) then a compliment is often a great icebreaker like "I love your hat/shirt/look/smile - would you mind if I took a quick photo?", as once again, people see that you're a calm person, its flattering (presumably they also like the hat they're wearing, or whatever you mentioned), and it explains why you might want to take a photo of them.
I remember that people are often calmed if you give them a business card too, as it's "proof" that you're legit and not up to no good.

Remaining calm and having an answer ready goes a long way it seems.  Still, confrontation isn't something that I'm particularly fond of, so I tend to avoid it where I can.

In terms of flying drones, I think it seems like a reasonable income stream if you're willing to go through all the hoops to get registered etc, and then do enough flying to justify getting certified etc.  For me, I'd spend about 3 hours flying per country I'd be visiting - the absolute worst type of bureaucracy-to-flying ratio imaginable!

Yeah, I skipped through the video looking for him to get arrested - had he not mislabeled it I might have relaxed and watched it more thoroughly.  Still, clickbait works - just ask the people who have written headlines for tabloid newspapers and pamphlets for the last, say, 300 years!

i'd say the first 290 odd years were ok, just the  last ten years' have been a roller coaster  down a steep ski slope. 

i'd swear tv commercials are actually getting dumber, which is rather ironic considering just how many people are continuing to further their education at uni or tafe.

So much clickbait on youtube !   I actually dont bother watching you tube any more. What i do is find something i'm interested in and then use idm (internet download manager) to download it, i can then watch it at my leisure, advertisement free.  Which pretty handy because i bought a  mig, tig stick welder last week . 😀

On drones don't take your drone into the nt (northern territory ) there is pretty  much bugger all, where you can fly it legally. Apparently it might wake up the ancestors or something...🙄  There are signs just about everywhere you pull up. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

So my advice is, IF you do fly your drone, pull up well short and fly the drone the last bit, you can then honestly say you didn't see any signs. At 400 feet everything is so damn small. 😎

Cameras are fine take as many photos as you want.  The cynical side of me thinks there is some sort of ploy to encourage either the appropriation of permits or some other  form of lubricant perhaps.  

The airforce fly one of those large turboprop planes  around the other side of a hill about 500 metres from my house every 6 weeks or so. i'm pretty sure they fly as low as their allowed because i lose sight of it once it goes behind the hill. One day i promise i'll catch them on camera i swear... 

[kye]

6 minutes ago, leslie said:

i'd say the first 290 odd years were ok, just the  last ten years' have been a roller coaster  down a steep ski slope. 

i'd swear tv commercials are actually getting dumber, which is rather ironic considering just how many people are continuing to further their education at uni or tafe.

So much clickbait on youtube !   I actually dont bother watching you tube any more. What i do is find something i'm interested in and then use idm (internet download manager) to download it, i can then watch it at my leisure, advertisement free.  Which pretty handy because i bought a  mig, tig stick welder last week . 😀

On drones don't take your drone into the nt (northern territory ) there is pretty  much bugger all, where you can fly it legally. Apparently it might wake up the ancestors or something...🙄  There are signs just about everywhere you pull up. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

So my advice is, IF you do fly your drone, pull up well short and fly the drone the last bit, you can then honestly say you didn't see any signs. At 400 feet everything is so damn small. 😎

Cameras are fine take as many photos as you want.  The cynical side of me thinks there is some sort of ploy to encourage either the appropriation of permits or some other  form of lubricant perhaps.  

The airforce fly one of those large turboprop planes  around the other side of a hill about 500 metres from my house every 6 weeks or so. i'm pretty sure they fly as low as their allowed because i lose sight of it once it goes behind the hill. One day i promise i'll catch them on camera i swear... 

I think it's like anything else, it's new and could be mis-used so it gets locked down much more than other things.

You don't have to look that far to see that the world is full of risks of all kinds, but the amount of effort put into preventing these risks from occurring is vastly different between them, and often has no bearing on the level of risk that is actually present.  It's based on public appetite and apathy as to which things get looked at and which things get left alone.

[Emanuel]

It is here now finally:

https://www.dji.com/newsroom/news/dji-granted-worlds-first-c1-certificate-for-mavic-3-series