Being a drone filmmaker or photographer during a time when everyone is being asked to stay indoors isn’t ideal. That doesn’t mean you have to stop using it entirely, especially when you have a super tiny drone like the DJI Mavic Mini. Sure, is flying around the house an ideal use case when you are itching to go outside? No, but it doesn’t mean you should stop practicing your skills altogether.
Put together by Drone Film Guide, this video walks you through eight creative ways you can use a Mavic Mini indoors! It’s a well thought out piece that includes some interesting ideas that will have you practicing a lot of different skills.
1. Stop Motion
We shouldn’t forget that there is a fully-functional camera mounted to the Mavic Mini, meaning you can do all kinds of things you would normally done with any ol’ camera. Stop motion is one of those fun projects.
Set up the Mavic in a good spot, find a subject, and then do the stop motion thing of snapping a photo, moving your subject, and then repeat until you are done. Compile all the photos into a single video and watch it come to life.
2. Fly It!
The Mavic Mini is, well, mini. With some extra caution you should be able to fly it around inside. Keep in mind it doesn’t have the same object detection as its bigger brothers. You could use it for some fun video shots or try to set up a course and zoom around obstacles.
3. Timelapse
This feature is fortunately built into your drone, all you have to do is find a good spot to place the Mavic and then use the “Timed Shot” function to take all the photos. Just make sure you are set to manual exposure. Take all the images into your NLE and you have a quick timelapse.
4. Handheld Gimbal
Drones can be used just fine without flying them. They basically become camcorders with awesome stabilization. Create some super steady shots with ease for your next video project.
5. Creative Angles
The next idea is just a general tip to try some fun new types of shots. The Mavic Mini is able to squeeze into small places and has remote control over the gimbal so you can do some interesting stuff if you think about it.
6. Twin Effect
Another tip for any camera, but perfectly good to use with the Mavic. Keeping the drone completely still you can record the same shot with a person in multiple places. Then use your NLE to practice masking and creating a composite shot where it seems like there are duplicates of the same person.
7. HDR Photography
This is a photo editing tip that is worth trying out to get some extra dynamic range out of the Mavic Mini. Take a series of photos from overexposed to underexposed (the more the better).
Then use Photoshop, Lightroom, or another piece of software to merge all these images into a single shot with extreme dynamic range.
8. Panorama
This one is similar to the last tip but accomplishes a different goal. Take a series of photos of a scene, perhaps a landscape. Pan carefully as you take each photo and make sure there is a good amount of overlap (at least 20-30%). Take all the photos into Lightroom and merge into a panorama. The software should be able to make one ultra-wide image with ease.
That is a ton of stuff to keep you busy right now, even if you are stuck indoors. Do you have any of your own ideas to share?
[source: Drone Film Guide]
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