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by stevenmajor on Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:08 am
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   As laptops have helped increase the performance of our mind, drones will be doing the same for our bodies. Soon enough, tripod image quality will be available from a drone. Soon after, drones may become the very best way to make images in nature. Why? Because drones remove both the human presence and limitations from the picture taking equation, while vastly increasing the photographers control and creative options.
   You’ve likely noticed that unless they are the intended meal, humans are rarely well received in nature. We are feared and avoided by most all creatures..the primary reason that wildlife photography is so difficult. Compared to humans, drones are a fraction of the size and have fewer and more predictable behaviors. This will reduce and can over time, eliminate the fear factor. In the presence of a drone, nature can be more relaxed, images captured more truthful, with far less intrusion.
   Drones also remove the human limitations of camera placement and dramatically expand the photographers current boundaries concerning time, space, distance, geography, physical ability, weather, and lots more. You can park your drone in a tree for a extended look around. If you like, you and your drone could be in the wilds together. You will have a lightweight remote control with a LCD, the drone carries everything else, trolling behind you till needed. These freedoms will produce windfalls of image making possibilities now unimagined.
   Drones are about wildlife viewing as well. A young child from Kansas spends 40 minutes before dinner exploring insects at some remote African location. Their experience is of sight and sound, live, in real time, from the safety of their home. 
   Drone Ranch...a drone only wildlife imaging refuge. Drones programmed to keep safe distance from wildlife and each other, designed to move quietly and slowly in a non threatening manner. Captured images available instantly.
   In the wildlife imaging arena, we have seen the digital age make obsolete most every image produced on film. A drone renaissance may well obsolete most digital wildlife images produced to date.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:06 am
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Until drones can be made to be silent, they are only a nuisance to wildlife and people when used in the wild. They will be used to harass wildlife and will intrude in places where they should not go. People will not change their mischievous ways and drones will be outlawed for use as a wildlife tool. I certainly don’t like hearing or seeing them in my neighborhood, much less in the wild. Even when used for landscape photography, they are annoying. I go into the wild places looking for a pleasant, quiet experience unfettered by the noise and clamor of civilization. I, personally, would rally against their use. Just imagine everybody using drones in well used areas!!!

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by aolander on Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:32 am
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Steven, you've got to be kidding. You think drones are well received in nature?
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by signgrap on Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:25 pm
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You make a number of good points about drones but I think you gloss over a number of real problems that photographing wildlife with drones has yet surmounted. Much of wildlife live in the forest under the canopy much of which is dense - how do you navigate a drone in such an environment? Already National Parks and some state parks prohibit drone use. There is a likelihood that drone regulation will increase as stupid people (those that lack commonsense) will continue to do dangerous things with drones that endanger other peoples lives. When this happens more and more regulations will be forthcoming and/or steps will be taken to limit the functionality of drones. The point that Joe make is real! I sure don't want to be out in nature with a drone within ear shot.
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by Ed Cordes on Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:08 pm
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SantaFeJoe wrote:Until drones can be made to be silent, they are only a nuisance to wildlife and people when used in the wild. They will be used to harass wildlife and will intrude in places where they should not go. People will not change their mischievous ways and drones will be outlawed for use as a wildlife tool. I certainly don’t like hearing or seeing them in my neighborhood, much less in the wild. Even when used for landscape photography, they are annoying. I go into the wild places looking for a pleasant, quiet experience unfettered by the noise and clamor of civilization. I, personally, would rally against their use. Just imagine everybody using drones in well used areas!!!

Joe
Joe, I absolutely agree with everything you said. Drones are totally annoying and can be evil. They should be banned from all wildlife areas.
Remember, a little mild insanity keeps us healthy
 

by WDCarrier on Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:27 pm
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Is this a joke?  If not, stevenmajor missed a very important benefit of drone photography for wildlife.  In the future instead of paying the high cost of travel to other continents for photography purposes we can just send our drones with an engineer; designate the species and or scenics we want, and then retrieve the images when they get sent back.  Of course the photo tour guides won't like it but it'll be so much more convenient and much much cheaper.

And, as usual, Joe is right on target.
[font=Helvetica, sans-serif]“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” MLK[/font]
 

by david fletcher on Tue Jan 16, 2018 3:09 pm
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OMG,... I've just gotta quote that famous tennis player. JM...

Drones are the worst evil... symptomatic of those who care nothing about their subject and must have the image at all costs..those that can't be bothered to sit and enjoy the privilege of watching and learning... Not much different to those who hired helicopters to get aerial views of elephants running away a few years back... Key POINT... Running away.

We need to as a race, to spend more time learning and understanding our wildlife so we can nurture and preserve. Far too many programs on TV using Drones to get their programmes to the market, leading us to think we should do the same.

Not so.. Far more important to educate people to appreciate and nurture. Nothing wrong with viewing wildlife on foot.. just need to understand the behaviour so not upsetting the balance or putting them under stress.

You'd be surprised how much you can enjoy nature if you don't press. Wildlife can be very tolerant if you use their rules...

Ultimately, this topic reverberates about some fundamental issues... Those who care and those who just need a quick fix and don't care what tool provides it.
Make your life spectacular!

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by EGrav on Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:19 pm
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Drones have no place in nature photography as far as I am concerned.


Last edited by EGrav on Sat Feb 03, 2018 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 

by james07731 on Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:36 pm
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From my experience using a DJI P3 4K, the drones are better equipped for landscape photography. There is no zoom on the drone & you'd have to fly too close to a wildlife subject to get a good photo of it. No doubt getting that close would spook it & scare it away.
 

by Tom Reichner on Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:56 pm
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Steven Major,

It would be nice if you would return to this thread and engage in the discussion that you started.

I am sure that it was not your intention to start a thread and then run away and hide, but it does kind of look that way.

By the way, I share your views on drones. I think that they should be employed a lot more than they currently are, because they will enable more people to capture more compelling wildlife photos than they can currently, because of the limitations of actually having to be behind the camera, or having to set up an immobile camera to be triggered remotely.

An amphibious drone would be particularly interesting, as one could then fly one over wetlands without fear of losing or destroying the drone, in the event of a crash.
Wildlife photographed in the wild

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