The Art of The Dronie - Drone Selfie Tutorial

Looking to join the dronie club? In this blog post, our guest author Will Lindsley teaches you the science of creating a fantastic selfie with your drone. I’ve put together a video tutorial explaining how one of my signature aerial shot is done. Editors Note : Will, the man behind ‘ManAndDrone‘ has created some great guides for flying and filming with drones. We feel they have some invaluable lessons on how to get the most out of your kit. He has kindly let us reproduce versions of them on our blog. This style of shot is actually easier than you think to master. So let’s look at what you’ll require to achieve the dronie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fF401BXZdQ

What do I need?

You are going to require the following:

• Drone DJI Phantom 2 and above or their equivalents
• An Open Location with clear line of sight Away from trees.
• Steady Hands
• Courage
• Several Practice Runs

Try to choose somewhere open and clear of power-lines, air-traffic, telephone lines, trees, wildlife such as birds. Be aware of illegal fly-zones and height restrictions in your area.

The Steps to the perfect Dronie

Step 1

So - After all your pre-flight checks. Take-Off the Drone with GPS Mode and position it slightly above head several metres in front of you, camera facing you.

Step2

Make sure the camera angle is tilted at a slight angle. Try 20 degrees tilted down from straight. Adjust as necessary depending on your location, and proximity to yourself.

Step 3

Final Check for any unexpected problems, i.e. birds and weather, make sure wind conditions are as calm as possible.

Step 4

Hit that video record Button.

Step 5

We’re ready to fly… Engage Throttle-up and Pitch-Down Simultaneously in a calm manner. Go half to full throttle and full pitch down. Have confidence in your drone’s ability..it will go far over water and land.. Stand-Still and Refrain from moving from these controller positions and keep your hands steady. Eyes on the drone and keep checking the VDU for reference of what your capturing. Send the drone out as far as you can so you have more footage to work with.

Step 6

Bring the Drone to a stop once your happy with what you’ve captured. Bring the drone back to the home position and repeat again if you think you can improve upon the first attempt.

Using Waypoints

The other method for capturing a dronie and one that gives us the freedom to move around or make it look completely autonomous is to use the Intelligent Flight Modes. We do exactly the same as steps 1-3. But change our flying mode to the intelligent one.

Step 4

We are now looking to prerecord our flight.. so set the drone’s home point as A by default it should be “C1” on the controller. “C2” to delete waypoint.

Step 5

Once the waypoints are uploaded and the drone is close to waypoint 1. Hit the Video Record Button.

Step 6

Get ready to be creative for when the drone reaches waypoint 1 it will instantly fly away.

How to edit your Dronie

  We can utilise Premiere CC’s powerful plugins to help with our creations. Two plugins that significantly help are: ‘Warp Stabliser’ and ‘Time Remapping’. Check the video tutorial from 09 mins 21 secs onwards for a more detailed explanation and run through.

RC Geeks & ManAndDrone

For more from ManAndDrone checkout the YouTube channel. If you do not currently own a Phantom and need some advice on which model would suit your needs, please get in touch with RC Geeks at info@rcgeeks.co.uk or by phone at 01737 457404.