5 Drone Shots Every Beginner Should Know

When I started flying drones, I made every mistake you can make. Jerky movements, boring angles, footage that looked like a lawnmower had been fumbled into the sky. It took me a while to realize the problem wasn't my gear. It was that I didn't have a vocabulary of shots to use. Shot number one is the apex, or the direct overhead. Fly straight up to a comfortable height, then keep the camera pointed straight down at your subject. Slowly rotate clockwise on the spot. This is the simplest shot in aerial photography and also one of the most effective — fields, roads, coastlines and people all look incredible from directly above. Go slow, keep it level, and let the geometry of the landscape do the work. Number two is the reveal. Pick a leading line — a road, a river, a row of trees — and fly along it, pitching the camera up from a low angle as you move. The effect is that the scene unfolds in front of the viewer. This is my go-to opening shot, because it establishes place and scale in a single smooth motion. Number three is the orbit. Keep your subject at the center of the frame and circle around it at a constant distance and height. The secret is consistency: identical stick pressure the whole way around, no pause at the start or end. Orbiting a landmark, a vehicle, or even a single person makes them feel like the center of the world. Number four is the follow. Track along side your subject — a car on a road, a hiker on a trail — matching speed and staying parallel. This read is simple but instantly cinematic. Keep the horizon level and let the background slide by to sell the motion. Number five is the rising hero shot: fly straight up while the camera starts low and levels toward the horizon. It turns a small scene into a grand one. I use it to end videos, pulling up and away over a landscape as the story closes. Before you practice any of it, learn the boring safety stuff: check your firmware, get your license if your country requires it, respect no-fly zones, and never fly over crowds or wildlife. The drone shots on your feed were all filmed legally and respectfully. So are the ones I'm teaching you today.