As a daily author for Digital Digital camera World, I get to have a look at a whole lot of stunning images. However this one actually took my breath away.
The aptly named Golden Treasure marries a love of historic folklore with trendy drone expertise. The picture captures frozen peat swimming pools in an Estonian bathroom, their surfaces shimmering with an otherworldly golden glow. This evokes the nation’s conventional folktales of mysterious lights guarding hidden treasures.
Fairly spectacular, proper? It is no shock, then, that it secured Estonian photographer Sven Začek second place within the Landscapes class at this yr’s GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Yr. So how, precisely, did he pull a shot like this off?
Technical setup
Začek deployed the DJI Mavic 3 Professional drone to seize the gorgeous scene, using its Hasselblad-branded medium telephoto digicam at its 70mm equal focal size, f/2.8 aperture, and ISO 100.
The 70mm equal focal size proved notably astute. Whereas the Mavic 3 Professional provides a 24mm equal wide-angle on its 4/3-inch predominant sensor and a 166mm equal on its lengthy telephoto, the medium digicam offered supreme compression for capturing the summary bathroom patterns.
Working at ISO 100 allowed Začek to extract most high quality from the 1/1.3-inch sensor, which delivers 48MP information with respectable dynamic vary; essential for preserving element in each golden highlights and darker peat areas.
Put all that collectively, and the elevated perspective transforms the frozen peat swimming pools into one thing mysterious and compelling, with golden gentle contrasting superbly in opposition to natural, irregular shapes dotted with frost-covered bushes.
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Portability and practicality
To place issues into perspective, the DJI Mavic 3 Professional sits on the high of DJI’s shopper and prosumer vary. Weighing slightly below 1kg, it requires registration in most jurisdictions however stays extremely transportable; a vital consideration when accessing distant places like Estonian bogs.
Its triple-camera system addresses a longstanding problem in aerial pictures: offering a number of focal lengths with out bulk or complexity. Photographers can swap between cameras with a single faucet. The primary 24mm digicam handles low-light with its bigger sensor and captures video as much as 5.1K 50fps. The 70mm medium digicam that Začek used provides 4K 60fps functionality, whereas the 166mm telephoto extends to 7x optical zoom.
Importantly, all three cameras function stabilization programs designed to counteract vibrations at altitude; one thing that is notably essential at longer focal lengths. The 43-minute battery life offers ample time for scouting, composing and capturing a number of frames in unpredictable pure environments.
And maybe most significantly, collision detection and impediment avoidance supply essential security margins when working in difficult terrain with bushes, vegetation and uneven surfaces.
Key takeaway
Clearly, Začek’s work demonstrates the artistic potential of the Mavic 3 Professional’s medium telephoto digicam, which is usually missed in favor of the dramatic wide-angle or lengthy telephoto. Nevertheless it additionally serves as a reminder that technical excellence means little with out inventive imaginative and prescient.
Whereas the Mavic 3 Professional is a professional-grade device, Začek’s skill to acknowledge potential in frozen peat swimming pools and execute the shot with precision exemplifies the wedding of technical functionality and artistic imaginative and prescient; the important thing to revealing hidden magnificence in missed locations.
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