Pic(k) of the week 9: THE FOG OVER DUBAI IS LIFTING
Whenever seasons are changing in Dubai, early morning fog becomes quite common. We probably have all seen dramatic images from one of the rooftops with some of the buildings sticking out of the mist. Such was the case lately when we had quite a few days of fog.
Unfortunately, I've also seen quite a few what look like, illegal aerial drone images and videos, shot above a closed fog-layer (clouds). Some people are even naive (stupid?) enough to comment how difficult it is to fly through the fog/cloud layer...
As an aircraft (and drone) pilot myself, I do not play this dangerous and irresponsible game. Keeping your drone in sight at all times, called visual line of sight, is the law for a good reason. Flying above the fog, which can be clearly seen in some of the videos, endangers manned aviation and is 100% illegal! Rant over.
So, to shoot maybe a little less dramatic images legally, one has to look for a nice opening with blue skies, once the fog starts lifting. When familiar with the area, you'll see that fog often starts breaking up at certain areas first.
Keeping the drone clearly in sight, I shot some images of the Dubai skyline as the fog was slowly breaking up in the distance over the high-rise buildings as well. The image below consists of 3 separate images which were then combined into a single 7700px wide panorama file, in post-processing. Shooting panoramas are a great tool to shoot higher resolution images with your standard drone camera.
It can also be used for vertical shots, if the entire scene doesn't fit in the frame due to the legal maximum altitude limitations (120m in UAE). Again, another rule which I unfortunately often see being busted!
I elected to convert the image to Black and white, for a more impactful image and particularly like how the canal at the bottom of the frame forms a leading line to the central part of the image; the Burj Khalifa.
Image details:- DJI Mavic Pro 2
- 1/2000s, f4, ISO 100
- Lightroom Classic to stitch the 3 images together
- DxO SilverEfex pro for convert to Black and white
More of my aerial work can be found here. Interested in my FOCUS ON THE WORLD BELOW book? Please check it out here and let me know if interested in a copy.
Remember: "Drones are good. But fly them legally".
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