A Lighthouse Photo with a Drone
Recently I found myself in Michigan with nothing to do on a Monday afternoon. My wife Joelle and I decided to drive to the Lake Michigan shoreline in Grand Haven. My thought was to get over there and see what kind of photography I might be able to do with the drone.
The weather was bad. Winds were gusting to about 30 miles per hour along the cost. Not only was it very windy it was extremely overcast…and cold.
Generally, this is the norm for Michigan. Having grown up in the state, nothing I was not prepared for; or used to.
As we made our way into the parking lot at the Grand Haven inlet, the spot of a double red lighthouse, I observed some serious swells, or waves, crashing along the sea wall and incoming channel of water reserved for boats and charters.
I did a little reading and learned that others had flown their Mavic drones in wind speeds up to about 40mph. A few noted, however, that at this velocity of wind, they lost their drone in a fly away. All able to be retrieved.
As my flight would be out well over the waters of this very angry lake, a fly away would mean lost for good should such an event take place.
I decided I needed to get more brave with my unit and opted to give it a shot. I wanted to test it’s limits.
My previous Mavic Mini would never have been able to handle such a feat. However, this Air 2 is a different bird.
I launched and watched as it hobbled in the air attempting to maintain it’s balance as the wind gusts pushed it to and fro.
I headed out, WAY out, over the lake toward the lighthouse.
I put it in sport mode. Sport mode giving it the absolute most power.
The angle of tilt on the drone as it powered into the headwind was quite impressive. So much tilt, I thought certain it might flip over and fall to the earth.
I am happy to report that on both flights out (one just wasn’t enough for my photographic desires) went off safely and successfully.
My drone has now handled wind speeds I never would have imagined it capable of.
I’m glad I took the chance. I took a few really great photos of a dramatically contrasted scene and bolstered my own pilot confidence AND experience in such a test.
I’d like to share a few of the photos with you now. Click on any of the images in the below photo gallery to see the larger file in full size.
