How to Create Outstanding Drone Photos that Sell
Evgeny Tchebotarev is Chief Growth Officer at Skylum Software, makers of Air Magic, an AI driven-app for enhancing drone imagery. In a recent Soar Cast, he discussed why drone imagery needs enhancement, how to get started with drone photography and create drone imagery that sells.
For 11 years, the China-based Skylum Software has been creating apps that enhance all types of images. In 2018, a drag-and-drop image enhancement app was released called Luminar that automatically enhances the imagery using AI. Because many clients used the app for enhancing drone images, Skylum decided to release a drone image-only app, which became Air Magic. Evgeny Tchebotarev, who is Chief Growth Officer at Skylum, explains that the app improves aerial photos automatically, using AI and advanced algorithms: “Air Magic uses an interface to Luminar, but uses a new neural network that was trained exclusively on drone imagery”.
The reason for applying enhancement to images is simple, says Tchebotarev: “in the end, all images will need some kind of enhancement, which stems from the way that the eye and the camera see things differently. If you see something with your eyes and it looks pretty, most likely a camera won’t be able to capture the same things as your eyes”.
The interviewee is a busy man and tracing him for the Soar Cast was no easy feat. During the Soar Cast, Tchebotarev shared his busy schedule;
Evgeny Tchebotarev: I just got off the plane, so thanks for catching me at the right time.
Darren Smith: Where are you today?
Evgeny Tchebotarev: Today I am in Kiev, Ukraine. If you would have talked to me yesterday, I was in Shanghai, going to Tokyo from there. I do a lot of travel, as you can understand.
How to get right shot
Drone photography isn’t the same as holding a camera in front of your face and shooting an image. This is why drone photography can be difficult for people who aren’t used to working with drones. Tchebotarev thinks it all comes down to experience: “I know there are people out there who have done so much drone photography that they know exactly what they’re looking for. They just take the drone up and go right for that. I am jealous of that, because my approach is a little different: I normally fly a drone and put it on a timer, which enables the drone to shoot a photo every three or five seconds. This gives me the opportunity to not miss a shot as well as look around and see what else is there. The strength of drones is that they can cover a lot of ground quicker than anyone, and, acquire many images at once. So what I like to do is take maximum advantage of that”.
During the Soar Cast, Tchebotarv shares his favorite season for taking photos with host Darren Smith;
Darren Smith: What’s your favorite season for taking photos?
Evgeny Tchebotarev: The fall is my favorite season for taking photos. The picture in my head is from the yellow and red leaves in Canada. I think that’s the perfect place and time to shoot all the foliage.
How to get started with drone photography and create imagery that stands out
Tchebotarev has some advice for novice drone photographers looking for a place to start. First of all, where you fly matters a lot: “if you live outside a city, you can basically fly wherever you want as there are less or no regulations at all. There’s nothing wrong with starting with tourist attractions because they make great drone photography spots. For example, they’re often filled with nice spots such as waterfalls or viewpoints on top of hills or mountains. This is where you can use the drone to get a unique perspective that’s different from being on the ground: a twisted road that leads up to a hill looks more intriguing from the air, as well as colorful fields with crops, flowers or forests that might show patterns or shapes when seen from the air. Luckily, it’s very easy to fly drones these days, so you don’t need a lot of time to prepare for a flight, send it up and decide if what you see is interesting or not”.
Over the years, Tchebotarev learned a lot about online communities and marketplaces. In 2004, he started a company called 500px, which is a photo sharing marketplace that started as a community effort. Over time, he started to understand why some images sold better than others. Obviously, high-quality imagery would sell better than low-quality. The same goes for imagery created with a commercial idea in mind, he says: “once you understand the tools at your disposal to sell an image, you start thinking like a client. So rather than thinking as a photographer, you create an image with the potential client in mind, as well as his needs.”
For example, a lot of commercial photographers take the drone up high enough, so that the resulting image leaves enough space on the sides for a designer at a later moment. “It’s also important to know who the client is and how the image you’re shooting will be part of a larger advertisement or message. In other words, there’s more to it than just the composition of your image”, he adds.
The interviewee explained how a drone photographer can take maximum advantage when the drone is up in the air and create imagery that will sell.
Darren Smith: how do you make sure that the image you’re shooting is alluring and sellable afterwards to the client?
Evgeny Tchebotarev: Actually, using different heights and take multiple shots of one composition doesn’t take too much effort when the drone is already up in the air. Additionally, thinking as a client also means choosing the right keywords so that the final imagery is easy searchable for potential buyers. This requires getting in the head of your client so to speak and try to understand what their needs are, and what keywords they would use.
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