The Ups and Downs of Running a Drone-based YouTube Channel
In a recent Soar Cast, Darren Smith caught up with Ed Ricker, a YouTube veteran known for drone-related videos. He discussed how he managed to get 3.7 million views on an instructional drone video published on his YouTube channel, important parameters for taking good drone photos, and his freelance video production business that keeps him busy when he’s not making YouTube videos.
Ed Ricker is a YouTube veteran who has been delivering instructional drone and videography videos since 2013. He became interested in using drones after seeing the famous YouTuber Casey Neistat flying a Phantom Four in New York City and creating epic shots of the city. As a way to grown his own YouTube channel, Ricker decided to focus on tech reviews after noticing significantly more traffic after publishing a camera review. However, it wasn’t until he did a review of the Mavic Pro that he knew he had found his niche.
Since then, he has been running a drone-themed channel on YouTube. Ricker’s most popular video, ‘Beginners Guide Part 1 — DJI Mavic Pro’, got 3.7 million views since February 2017. Ricker explains that the video didn’t get that many views overnight, but is the result of two and a half years of view counts. “It was more a gradual than an overnight success. I now get emails from people expressing their appreciation for the fact that I put time and effort into trying and help them. And hopefully, these kind of videos will stay relevant for a while. I’m looking forward to make videos and helping people out”. He also cites the popularity of the Mavic line as one of the reasons for the high amount of views: “the current Mavic line is strong and I’m already looking out for the next line.”
Darren Smith and Ed Ricker discussed the different applications for drone imagery and how to shoot drone imagery that meets the needs of the client;
Darren Smith: What in your opinion makes a good drone shot?
Ed Ricker: That depends on what exactly you’re looking for and what you’re trying to achieve. For example, if your purpose is inspection, then that’s going to be a little different than being creative. Inspection might be a little more cut and dry, meaning everything’s settled and you have to deliver what the client wants. Whereas if you’re trying to be creative, you have more wiggle space.
Mavic 2 Zoom and Mavic Pro drones
For those who don’t know Ricker or his YouTube channel, but are interested in starting with drone photography, he recommends the Mavic 2 Zoom or Mavic 2 Pro drones. “These are two good drones for getting your feet wet with taking photos. The Mavic 2 Pro is pretty much essential if you need to take any nighttime footage or pictures. With some added post-processing software it’s possible to get good results for photos taken with drones that cost up to $500 or $1000”, he says.
Drone photographers need to take into account several parameters when taking photos or footage with a drone. Ricker explains: “for drone imagery, you need to think about altitude, angle, and exposure. This means knowing how high the drone needs to be above something to get a good shot. Angle means you also need to think about whether or not you want to include the horizon or not, or doing overhead images by pointing the camera directly down. Exposure refers to what you want to expose for so you know what’s your priority. For example, if you expose for the sky, then the ground is going to be a bit darker. Or, if you opt to expose for a dark building but want to make sure you see all the windows, corners and shadows, the sky will be completely overblown. Maybe it’s also possible to get the best of both worlds to mesh two different photos together when editing them, using post-processing software”.
During the podcast, Ricker explained the difference between drone video and imagery;
Darren Smith: What’s the big difference between drone imagery and video?
Ed Ricker: “The big difference between photo and video is motion. A picture is a slice of time that is cut in stone, whereas in a video things are moving. That means a lot of mistakes can happen, as a result of things sliding. But at the same time, you can look at more things when doing video, whereas with a picture everyone will comment on what’s included or not.”
Freelance video work
When Ricker is not shooting YouTube videos, he’s running a freelance promotion business called Sandhills videography. “Here, I do different types of videos on business promotion, live events, and weddings”. There is a seamless transition from his YouTube videos to his freelance video productions, as he’s able to use the same software, camera types and drones for all his work. Occasionally, there’s even a project where he can take a blogging camera along when doing a business promotion video and show the process to his viewers on YouTube. Both avenues of work give Ricker sufficient work throughout the year: when his freelance videography work slows down at the end of the year, he has time to do more YouTube videos. “I am glad to have these different types of work as the year progresses. They keep me pretty busy”.
Ricker shared his experiences of the last job he had before starting his own business;
Darren Smith: What type of work were you doing before you went independent? Was that videography as well?
Ed Ricker: Yes, that’s correct. I worked as a videographer for the University of North Carolina. Being the only video blogger for a university of almost 7,000 students, if there was any academic need or any department that needed a promo, or any live event that needed coverage, I was there. There were some days on my calendar with nine or ten different locations and video shoots in one day.
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