Dusk photography

[artsentries]

Our high school just installed new lights in their football stadium and they want aerial photos of the field lit up. I am suggesting they do it at dusk but they want full dark as well. Any suggestions on camera settings would be appreciated. This would be done with a P4P.
Thanks

 

[Weston Ney]

Our high school just installed new lights in their football stadium and they want aerial photos of the field lit up. I am suggesting they do it at dusk but they want full dark as well. Any suggestions on camera settings would be appreciated. This would be done with a P4P.
Thanks

Get ready to do some de-noising in post! One trick is to take your dark photos exposed so that you are almost over exposing the lights but not quite. (Make sure you take the photos in raw.) Then in your photo editing software lower the shadows and black level of the photos to get rid of the noisy areas and just leave the lights and illuminated areas.

Also, if your high school is paying you, you do need to get your part 107 (if you don't have one yet) to fly commercially, otherwise you are breaking the law big time and could get in big trouble.

 

[Meta4]

Our high school just installed new lights in their football stadium and they want aerial photos of the field lit up. I am suggesting they do it at dusk but they want full dark as well. Any suggestions on camera settings would be appreciated. This would be done with a P4P.

There's no need for special settings, your camera metering should take care of things for you.
Shooting at dusk is a good idea, shoot while there is still some colour in the sky rather than black.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Yup if lights a pain I would use ND4 filter even though @Meta4 is right saying none needed this just saves me the glare and use iOS wheel to your liking,,,,,probly wrong in saying that but hey I still learning

 

[TxArch DroneGuy]

Get ready to do some de-noising in post! One trick is to take your dark photos exposed so that you are almost over exposing the lights but not quite. (Make sure you take the photos in raw.) Then in your photo editing software lower the shadows and black level of the photos to get rid of the noisy areas and just leave the lights and illuminated areas.

Also, if your high school is paying you, you do need to get your part 107 (if you don't have one yet) to fly commercially, otherwise you are breaking the law big time and could get in big trouble.

Actually, whether you get paid or not, Part 107 is required; it’s definitely not fir personal use

 

[artsentries]

Get ready to do some de-noising in post! One trick is to take your dark photos exposed so that you are almost over exposing the lights but not quite. (Make sure you take the photos in raw.) Then in your photo editing software lower the shadows and black level of the photos to get rid of the noisy areas and just leave the lights and illuminated areas.

Also, if your high school is paying you, you do need to get your part 107 (if you don't have one yet) to fly commercially, otherwise you are breaking the law big time and could get in big trouble.

Thanks for the info, I just thought it would be cool before the field gets messed up and they might use it in the yearbook and booster club.

 

[Weston Ney]

Thanks for the info, I just thought it would be cool before the field gets messed up and they might use it in the yearbook and booster club.

Awesome, sounds good. Also if you fly after dark you will need a strobe light on your drone. The drone's built in red and green orientation lights are not enough according to the FAA. Here is a great video that explains what you need to know to fly at night:

 

[JeffreyS]

Awesome, sounds good. Also if you fly after dark you will need a strobe light on your drone. The drone's built in red and green orientation lights are not enough according to the FAA. Here is a great video that explains what you need to know to fly at night:

I couldn't get past the first minute of useless garbage in that clip. If the OP is only a couple of hundred feet over an empty stadium and then lands, why does he need more lights?

 

[Weston Ney]

I couldn't get past the first minute of useless garbage in that clip. If the OP is only a couple of hundred feet over an empty stadium and then lands, why does he need more lights?

Because it is important to follow the law to the "T". If everyone decided to cut corners and say, "well I thought I didn't need to have the FAA mandated strobe because I was only going to fly for a couple of minutes near my house!" Then a helicopter can't see the drone and hits it. Safety is very important, and the laws must be followed. Feel free to break the laws, that's your choice. I choose to follow the laws because I don't like getting in trouble. And that's what I encourage others to do as well.

 

[Meta4]

Because it is important to follow the law to the "T". Safety is very important, and the laws must be followed.
I choose to follow the laws because I don't like getting in trouble. And that's what I encourage others to do as well.

It might be useful for you to check and find out what the rules actually are rather than advising folks on what you imagine they are.

 

[Weston Ney]

It might be useful for you to check and find out what the rules actually are rather than advising folks on what you imagine they are.

I have researched what the rules are and it is very black and white you must have an anti collision strobe to fly at night under the new hobbyist rules here in the United States. I don't know if a part 107 flight at night needs a strobe, but the new law clearly states that a strobe is necessary to fly at night as a hobbyist. (I do know that a part 107 flight at night needs a daylight waiver though.) These laws make a lot of sense as well in my opinion.

 

[Meta4]

I have researched what the rules are and it is very black and white you must have an anti collision strobe to fly at night under the new hobbyist rules here in the United States. I don't know if a part 107 flight at night needs a strobe, but the new law clearly states that a strobe is necessary to fly at night as a hobbyist. (I do know that a part 107 flight at night needs a daylight waiver though.) These laws make a lot of sense as well in my opinion.

Perhaps you can point me to where the FAA says this?
I'm having trouble finding it.

 

[Weston Ney]

Perhaps you can point me to where the FAA says this?
I'm having trouble finding it.

Fact Sheet – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations (Part 107)

www.faa.gov

Sent from my Nexus 6P using PhantomPilots Drone Forum mobile app

 

[BigAl07]

Fact Sheet – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations (Part 107)

www.faa.gov

Sent from my Nexus 6P using PhantomPilots Drone Forum mobile app

You referenced Part 107 rules there bud.

 

[BigAl07]

I have researched what the rules are and it is very black and white you must have an anti collision strobe to fly at night under the new hobbyist rules here in the United States. I don't know if a part 107 flight at night needs a strobe, but the new law clearly states that a strobe is necessary to fly at night as a hobbyist. (I do know that a part 107 flight at night needs a daylight waiver though.) These laws make a lot of sense as well in my opinion.

Here's an excellent break down of the new Hobbyist rules for you to review in detail:

Overview of current hobbyist FAA rules (updated 7/23/19)

As of 5/17/19, here's a complete list of rules hobbyists must follow when flying outdoors in the US: Register your drone with the FAA Mark your registration number on the exterior of the drone (decals available here) Fly a drone under 55 lbs Fly only for hobby or recreation Follow the safety...

phantompilots.com

At no point does it say anything about "Strobes Required" or anything.

With that being said, are they a GREAT idea? Absolutely they are but the FAA isn't currently "requiring" them for Hobby flights (but they should and ultimately probably will IMHO).

If you're going to be quoting Rules & Regulations you've got to be fully versed on them inside and out. Keep in mind that someone could take your advice and follow it and end up in hot water. If you want to be a Subject Matter Expert you had better be right.

 

[Weston Ney]

Here's an excellent break down of the new Hobbyist rules for you to review in detail:

Overview of current hobbyist FAA rules (updated 7/23/19)

As of 5/17/19, here's a complete list of rules hobbyists must follow when flying outdoors in the US: Register your drone with the FAA Mark your registration number on the exterior of the drone (decals available here) Fly a drone under 55 lbs Fly only for hobby or recreation Follow the safety...

phantompilots.com

At no point does it say anything about "Strobes Required" or anything.

With that being said, are they a GREAT idea? Absolutely they are but the FAA isn't currently "requiring" them for Hobby flights (but they should and ultimately probably will IMHO).

If you're going to be quoting Rules & Regulations you've got to be fully versed on them inside and out. Keep in mind that someone could take your advice and follow it and end up in hot water. If you want to be a Subject Matter Expert you had better be right.

Ok, sorry about that, I read that all unmanned aircraft flights are done under part 107, but there is an exception for hobbyists. This is very confusing, I have heard that hobbyists do need strobes and that part 107 must have strobes, and a daylight waiver. I went and re-researched and saw that you were right, it appears that the black and white rule only applies to part 107 flights. But it is still written with such ambiguity.

 

[Weston Ney]

I read the outline you linked, and I downloaded multiple PDFs from FAA.gov and searched to try to find what the rules are for recreational flights at night, and I couldn't find anything. since the law is to tell you what you cannot do, if it does not tell you you cannot fly at night as a hobbyist then does that mean it is perfectly fine to fly at night as a hobbyist as long as you follow all of the same rules just at night? No extra rules apply?

 

[Meta4]

Fact Sheet – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations (Part 107)

www.faa.gov

And that document says: You can fly during daylight (30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after official sunset, local time) or in twilight with appropriate anti-collision lighting.
If you were trying to follow the 107 rules, they only cover twilight. There's nothing in there about flying at night.

 

[roosta]

OP - Post the result if you can, would be good to see final product and a RAW shot or two...

RoOSTA