“Gentle the Night time.” That’s what drone pilot and photographer Craig Coker calls his drone pictures challenge.
Simply don’t assume that each reference of ‘drone pictures’ means the drone is taking the picture. That’s actually not what’s occurring with Gentle the Night time.
With Coker’s distinctive model of pictures, the picture you’re comes from a digicam on the bottom — however the drone is essential to the picture. That’s as a result of the drone gives the sunshine supply for the picture.
Right here’s only one beautiful instance from Coker’s “Gentle the Night time” challenge:
Coker has spent years now toying with the idea of placing lights on drones, which might then functioning as an aerial, transferring highlight for objects on the bottom. With the launch of the Sony Airpeak S1 drone within the ultimate week of 2021, his thought was lastly capable of pan out because the drone was able to lifting the lights he wanted to place within the air, whereas additionally flying in a dependable method, significantly at excessive speeds and on aggressive flight paths.
So with the drone in hand, he got down to obtain his imaginative and prescient of photographing numerous athletes at evening. See how he did it in a 6-minute lengthy YouTube video right here:
How they pulled off “Gentle the Night time”
The athletes/fashions used for “Gentle the Night time” had been skilled off-road driver Blake Wilkey, skilled freestyle skier Joss Christensen and world champion skimboarder and social media sensation Austin Eager, and he labored with different crew together with Lee Stockwell, Brandon Skinner and Johnny V to drag all of it off.
The gear used was a Sony Airpeak drone, outfitted with a Godox AD300 outside flash and the Gentle & Movement Reflex S LED/Flash Head. Additionally they used a Gremsy Gimbal for tilt management and stabilized mild.
Utilizing a distant for the drone connected to a chest mount harness system, in addition to his Sony Alpha 1 connected to a tripod, Coker might fly the Airpeak after which shoot a photograph at principally the identical time. And from there, he generated nighttime images with the drone appearing as a flying mild part.
Whereas this particular instance is creative in nature, it might pave the best way for different business and industrial functions which are related in that drones aren’t flying cameras, however quite are flying mild sources. Coker mentioned rocket corporations like SpaceX who do a variety of their inspections at evening have approached him about utilizing the drones to highlight sure parts of the big aircrafts, or it may very well be helpful for search and rescue missions — lots of which additionally happen at evening.
In regards to the photographer, Craig Coker
If the title Craig Coker sounds acquainted, that’s since you met him final month on my web site in a Q&A. Coker is completely THE man to know in drones. He builds them, he consults on them and naturally he flies and images with them. At present, Coker has a contract with Sony because the Japanese digicam firm’s official drone pilot for its Sony Airpeak S1 drone. Not solely is he taking footage for Sony although, however he’s placing the drone by means of stress checks to seek out flaws in them, and he’s working immediately with designers to make solutions for enhancements.
Previous to becoming a member of Sony, he consulted with different main drone makers together with DJI, 3DR, Yuneec and GoPro. He was instrumental within the 3DR Solo drone, the place he helped work on a light-weight supply for Solo too, and he was there within the early days of the unique DJI Phantom.
And never solely is he an skilled in drones, however he’s an skilled in motion sports activities. Up till about 10 years in the past, he was knowledgeable freestyle skier, touring the world, which partially is what piqued his curiosity in motion sports activities pictures. He’s additionally knowledgeable race automotive driver. The person is multi-faceted and exponentially extra multi-talented.
And with Gentle the Night time, all Coker’s passions — drones, pictures and motion sports activities — converge into one.
“The concept of a light-weight supply on Airpeak has been unbelievable,” he mentioned. “I couldn’t do it with most different drones.”
Take a look at a full assessment of the Sony Airpeak S1 drone right here.
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