A project founded in a dark time, that went on to shine a bright light on drone flying for hundreds of people in 2020. We launched our Fly Like a Pro, Film Like a Pro series of six weekly, two hour, live on Zoom, small group episodes in April 2020, in response to the first COVID lockdown. It proved wildly popular, with the format working perfectly, whether we are locked down or not.
Soon after we launched, someone pointed out that Fly Like a Pro, Film Like a Pro abbreviates to FLAPFLAP. So that is what these exceptional Courses are now affectionally known as internally.
Werever you want to go with your drone flying, to go from Drone Zero to Drone Hero, you need FLAPFLAP in your life.
At a Glance
Your tutor: Alan Proto and a series of World-Class guest speakers
Numbers: Maximum 10
Base Camp: on Zoom. Wherever you are
Duration: 12 hrs in total. 6 x 2-hour Zoom episodes, one per week for six weeks
Skill level: A brilliant introduction to everything to do with drones
Timing: This Course starts once every two months
Exertion: Brain power required. Leg power not required
Weather: In the event the forecast is bad, for one of the episodes where we will be Zooming from the screen of one of our Drone Pilots, live out in the field, we will either switch the Episodes around, or reschedule the Episode for a different day and time.
Front and central when we were designing this Course was the goal of answering the questions “where can I fly” and “what should I shoot”. From the feedback we had when we fist ran this Course, in April, May, June and July 2020, we succeeded.
What is in the Course?
Lesson One – The Yin and the Yang (Video-Conference)
- Best on site set up
- How to make it go right
- How to avoid what can go wrong
- In flight workflow
Lesson Two – Foolproof Drone Flying Techniques (Live-Stream)
- What am I looking at?
- Where should I be looking?
- Dealing with sunlight on the screen
- How to get to where you want to go
Lesson Three – Where and How (Video-Conference)
- Where can I fly, where should I fly
- How to plan your flight using the best apps available
- Using the DJI simulator
Lesson Four – Next level drone flying and videography (Live-Stream)
- Flying skills to master, and how to master them
- Pushing the envelope
- Constant speed, constant direction
- Speed up, slow down
- Intelligent Flight Mode
- Tap Fly, Tripod, Point of Interest
Lesson Five – Foolproof Drone Photography Techniques: Guest Appearance by Alan Copson (Video-Conference)
- Camera settings
- In-flight photography workflow
- Foolproof compositional techniques
- Use Playback, please
Lesson Six – An Introduction to Photography & Video Post-Production: Guest Appearance by Nick Hanson (Video-Conference)
- What is Lightroom and what is it for?
- The fundamentals of photography data management – where are my photos?
- Tagging and starring
- Playing with the tone curve; white balance; highlights; shadows; saturation; and exposure
- Best Video editing software
- Setting yourself up for video-editing success
- Building the timeline
Crop, colour, clip – the 3 secr