A full canyon

[MattBurt]

I'm getting more comfortable with operating my drone.
This river canyon hasn't been this full in several years so this is nice to see. It was cool to be able to shoot this from a half mile or so away when I realized that was where the good light was hitting.

[armand]

Nice!

Which one did you get? I've been on the fence for years but slowly moving towards accepting defeat and get one.

[francois]

I love the meandering river... only from a drone!

[MattBurt]

Nice!

Which one did you get? I've been on the fence for years but slowly moving towards accepting defeat and get one.

Yeah, that was me for the past few years. I resisted but my real estate clients want drone photos so I decided to take the plunge this summer.
I got a DJI Mini 3 Pro. It's got a larger sensor than its predecessors but still only does 12MP natively but the above shot is with the expanded 45MP mode (RAW output edited in Lightroom) and it seemed to do pretty well. Not as well as a native high res sensor but certainly usable images.
I still feel kind of self conscious flying it around people but thankfully we have some nice open spaces to work on my technique without others around. 

It's remarkably small and I can even carry it in my mountain bike backpack without feeling overloaded.

[MattBurt]

I love the meandering river... only from a drone!

Thanks! Yeah meanders are the first thing I thought of when considering subjects to shoot. Irresistible!

[Paulo Bizarro]

Well done.

[Rajan Parrikar]

Beautiful light. Welcome to the drone club!

[David Eckels]

Beautiful. See? It's not the camera, it's the photographer! Well done.

[Michael West]

I'm getting more comfortable with operating my drone.
This river canyon hasn't been this full in several years so this is nice to see. It was cool to be able to shoot this from a half mile or so away when I realized that was where the good light was hitting.

[MattBurt]

Well done.

Thank you Paulo!

Beautiful light. Welcome to the drone club!

Thanks Rajan! The cool thing about this light was that I could see it hitting the canyon area from some distance away. Too far to get there before it would have been gone so being able to fly the drone over there quickly was instrumental to getting that light in a photo.

Beautiful. See? It's not the camera, it's the photographer! Well done.

Thanks David! The camera being able to fly certainly helped in this case. 

 

[Tuco]

Curecanti/Gunnison, CO?  Nice.  I'll be driving that road next week.  Was hoping to get my non-cinematic 3d printed FPV drone done before the trip.

[MattBurt]

Curecanti/Gunnison, CO?  Nice.  I'll be driving that road next week.  Was hoping to get my non-cinematic 3d printed FPV drone done before the trip.

Yes! I live in Gunnison. The Curecanti park is off limits to drones so I flew down to the edge of the area from the mesa above (called Big Mesa).

[Tuco]

Yes! I live in Gunnison. The Curecanti park is off limits to drones so I flew down to the edge of the area from the mesa above (called Big Mesa).

Ah, that's how you get so many good shots, you're right in the "middle of it all", lots of beautiful stuff in all directions.  I'm heading to Outerbike in Crested Butte.  Been meaning to explore the Gunnison trails, have a favorite?

[MattBurt]

Ah, that's how you get so many good shots, you're right in the "middle of it all", lots of beautiful stuff in all directions.  I'm heading to Outerbike in Crested Butte.  Been meaning to explore the Gunnison trails, have a favorite?

Some call it the middle of nowhere but I prefer the middle of everywhere.

Gunnison has two trail systems, the older Hartman Rocks which is high desert sage with scattered granite features south of town and the newer Signal Peak system which starts in the sage and eventually gets into the Alpine a bit northeast of town. They are both fun with Hartman's being more technical with many small trails that can be combined in various ways creating loops from 3 to 40+ miles long. Signal Peak is more cruising through sage hills on a more spread out layout with more vertical than Hartman's. Both can be great fun.

Hartman Rocks:


Signal Peak:


LMK if you want to tag along on a ride in one of those places, I usually ride one or the other a couple of times per week.

[Tuco]

LMK if you want to tag along on a ride in one of those places, I usually ride one or the other a couple of times per week.

Wow, that last pic is great (maybe a mountain biker thing).  Not sure of my plans quite yet, but Gunnison for me would probably be the 20th (Sunday).  I may DM you once my plans clear up.

[francois]

Those trails looks awesome.

[MattBurt]

Wow, that last pic is great (maybe a mountain biker thing).  Not sure of my plans quite yet, but Gunnison for me would probably be the 20th (Sunday).  I may DM you once my plans clear up.

Thanks, I was near there on today's ride and it's riding well.

Those trails looks awesome.

They are pretty nice!