In October 2024, I joined a 3-day drone workshop in the Utah Badlands. In many photo tours I take, I am mostly just wanting to be taken to photogenic sites where I can apply my skills to come back with interesting photos. In this workshop, I had hoped to learn more about how to get the most from my drone.

Weather and the short time of the workshop conspired, and I felt I did not learn as much about improving my drone images as I had hoped. Neverthelss, I did return with a few interesting images, as the panoramics above show. I did however, learn how to catch my drone in the air on return, which was critical when flying in the crowds of the Pase del Niño parade in Cuenca a couple months later.

One style of image I have enjoyed creating with my drones is called a “Little Planet.” To create this type of image, you instruct the drone to take 35 photos, moving slightly between each, until the photos cover a full 360 degree sphere. Some specialized software can then stitch them together to create images like the four shown above.