Chapter 13
Working with Shaky Footage
In This Chapter
Learning camera tricks to minimize shake
Stabilizing your camera with gimbals
Cleaning up your footage with software
One of the hardest parts about watching home videos, aside from reliving childhood memories that are neatly tucked away into the nether regions of your long-term memory, is sitting through the motion-sickness inducing camera work. Maybe you dislike other aspects of home videos, but I’ve always been the first to get nauseated by fast, jerky camera movements. Chances are good that your family didn’t intend to make movies that looked liked they were shot during the “big one” in southern California. It was probably a combination of a lack of technology, know-how, and experience.
When shooting with a drone, you don’t have the benefit of stable ground to keep your video footage from shaking. Drones are flying aircraft that have nothing but aerodynamics to rely on for aerial stability. A soft breeze can make your footage feel like it was shot on the open seas during a hurricane. Even on the stillest of days, the vibration from your drone’s motors can create enough motion to make your video blurry or, in some cases, unwatchable.
Several tools are available that you can use to improve the quality of your footage by reducing the amount of shake that is picked up by your aerial camera rig. In this chapter, you see different camera techniques that will enhance your footage by reducing shake. You also see how to use some advanced flying techniques to smooth your video.
Using Camera Tricks to Minimize Shake
Have you ever noticed when taking photographs that sometimes your images are blurry or out of focus? Your images may be blurry for several reasons. It could be that your camera wasn’t in focus, or it could be that the subject was moving or you weren’t able to keep the camera completely still while you were capturing the photo. Walking, laughing, sneezing, or an unsteady hand can make video footage look like it was shot on the open sea during a hurricane.
If you want to remove blur from photos or shake from videos, you can get a fixture like a tripod or stand or, if you’re a low-tech shooter like me, you may just want to stack some books on a table to give you the steady aim that you need. When you take photos with your drone, however, you don’t have the luxury of a tripod or a sturdy shelf to stabilize your camera. In fact, you have even more variables working against you.
Following is a list of several factors that could impact the quality, and stability, of your aerial photos and videos:
- Lighting: Chapter 12 covers the importance of light in detail. If you work with less than ideal lighting, your camera has to do more to compensate for the lack of light needed to capture a quality image. When you have adequate light, your camera has more options to help you capture the desired image.
Weather: Rain, snow, and most important, wind greatly impact the clarity of your photos and stability of your video. Precipitation can make moving parts work less smoothly and wind, depending on how strong it is, will take your drone to task.
Your drone is not employed by the postal service and therefore is not meant to be used in rain, sleet, or snow (or gloom of night, but that’s beside the point). Avoid flying your drone when conditions are wet.- Pilot experience: Newer pilots may not have the skill to use the controls well enough to fly straight and steady. Skill with the controls means a more stable flight and better video.
- Mechanical issues: Chapter 5 covers the various parts of your drone. A finely tuned flying machine ensures that you have a minimal amount of shake and vibration.
- Camera quality: It goes without saying that the better the camera, the better the chances you’ll have stable video and clear photos. Image stabilization, shutter speeds, sensor sizes, and so on impact the quality of the video.
Camera adjustments to sharpen photos
Blur in photos is often caused by movement. The movement of your subject may cause the blur, or the movement of the camera may cause it. The obvious answer is to stop moving; however, that’s not easy when you take photos with a drone. You have numerous variables that make it next to impossible to have a completely steady shot. Depending on your camera, there may be hope.
If your drone comes with an integrated camera, read the user manual about the camera’s features. Chances are good that your drone manufacturer added features designed to help you capture crisp photos. Keep in mind, however, that drone manufacturers focus on building great flying machines, not cameras. This means your integrated camera may only do a great job when there is plenty of light and a skilled pilot at the controls.
Most add-on cameras come with auto features designed for action photography, or shooting moving subject matter. If you made the decision to purchase an action camera, then your camera is designed almost exclusively for the purpose of capturing moving images or images while you are moving. Using auto settings on your camera isn’t “cheating.” Rely on auto features as much as you can because this will give you more mental bandwidth to focus on great flying and enjoying the experience of capturing aerial photos. If you don’t have auto settings or you are unsatisfied with your auto settings, you need to adjust your camera settings manually to compensate for your environment.
Following is a list of settings you will need to tweak to get great results:
- Shutter speed: Reducing the effects of motion on your photos means that you need to shorten the amount of time that your shutter is open. In situations when there is a lot of light, this won’t be a problem. Shooting in low light, however, may prove to be somewhat difficult because a fast shutter speed may not allow enough light in to capture an image.
- ISO: In traditional film cameras, the rate at which your film could absorb light was referred to as film speed. In digital cameras, the rate at which your camera’s sensor absorbs light is your ISO. Action photography typically requires an ISO of 800 or higher. However, the lower the light, the higher the ISO must be.
- Lens: If you are working with a camera that supports interchangeable lenses, you will want to opt for a lens that offers image stabilization and has a low F-stop number. As the F number gets smaller, the amount of light that comes in gets larger.
Advanced flight modes
The more flight conditions you fly in, the more comfortable you will become and the steadier your flights will be. Smooth flight is important when capturing smooth video and sharp photos. Even the most skilled drone pilots, however, may find that advanced autopilot modes are the best way to capture superb photos and video.
Each drone manufacturer offers a different bag of tricks with their drones and drone flight controllers. As discussed in Chapter 2, you should consider the autopilot modes that your drone offers when purchasing your drone. They could make your life much easier.
Autopilot modes can be a great way to stabilize your flight, especially if you are a less experienced drone pilot. Autopilot does not, however, replace the intuition and creativity of the human pilot. In time, your flight skills will continue to improve and while autopilot technology will get more advanced, it will be a long time before they can ever truly replace a skilled human operator.
Follow-me mode
The Pocket Drone, shown in Figure 13-1, comes with an autopilot feature that enables the drone to follow you using GPS tracking in your Android tablet controller. The Pocket Drone is designed to follow behind at a pre-set distance, by using your android tablet as a tracking beacon of sorts. This feature is exceptional for capturing footage of a specific subject as it moves.
Courtesy of TJ Johnson
Figure 13-1: The Pocket Drone offers a follow-me mode.
The Pocket Drone doesn’t offer collision detection. For this reason you must be sure to use follow-me mode in an environment free of objects that could cause a collision.
Director mode
The Parrot AR Drone 2.0, shown in Figure 13-2, offers a Director mode, which gives you several options for controls specifically designed to capture video footage. This includes a modes to simulate up and down movements of a crane, panorama rotations, and Travel mode to simulate dolly movements.
Source: Lima Pix/Creative Commons
Figure 13-2: The Parrot AR Drone 2.0.
Programmed Flight mode
The DJI Phantom drones, shown in Figure 13-3, give you the option to program a flightpath using GPS coordinates (some models require an upgrade module to enable this feature). Once the course has been charted, you can set the drone loose and then focus your energies controlling the camera, but be prepared to take control of the drone if something goes awry. You will need to ensure that your flightpath is at an altitude that will avoid any potential ground clutter, but other than that, this is a great feature if you can plan your shots accordingly.
Source: B Ystebo/Creative Commons
Figure 13-3: DJI Phantom drones offer several high-end autopilot modes.
Altitude Hold mode
Several drones, including the DJI Phantom drones, allow you to set an altitude for your drone and leave it to maintain the altitude until otherwise indicated. This features is excellent for gathering stationary shots at an absolute height above the ground.
Stabilizing With a Gimbal
A gimbal is a support system that allows an object to remain horizontal regardless of the motion around it. Gimbals were widely used in waterborne vessels to keep instruments, equipment, and even drink holders upright with respect to the horizon regardless of the motion of the boat. Drone gimbals keep a camera in the same position regardless of the motion of the drone. Figure 13-4 shows a diagram of how a very basic gimbal works.
Source: LucasVB/Creative Commons
Figure 13-4: A basic illustration of how gimbals work.
Similar to how you would use gimbal technology to ensure that you don’t spill your cup of coffee on the rough seas, a gimbal can keep your aerial camera in a specific position regardless of the movement of the drone around it. To fully understand how a gimbal works, you must first understand the three axes of aerial movement specific to an airplane. Refer to Chapter 8 to learn about the different movements along the X, Y, and Z axes known as pitch, yaw, and roll. A gimbal is designed to keep your camera at the same angle regardless of the movement of the drone by automatically compensating using calibrated and often remotely controlled electric motors.
How to find a gimbal for your drone
They sound extremely high-tech but the good news is that you don’t need to know how a gimbal works in order to use it. But before you start shopping for a gimbal, you do need to know if your drone supports a gimbal. Most of the big manufacturers, such as DJI and Parrot, either have integrated gimbals or an exclusive line of gimbals that you can buy direct or through authorized retailers. Figure 13-5 is a picture of a gimbal being used on a DJI Phantom drone.
Source: B Ystebo/Creative Commons
Figure 13-5: A drone gimbal in action!
The benefit to purchasing a camera gimbal through your drone manufacturer is that you will get support for your device as well as a slew of easy to find documentation on how to use and maintain your gimbal. Not to mention, the gimbal is designed specifically for your drone and therefore should work without any major issues. One glaring issue, however, is that your choices can end up being somewhat limited. Here are some websites where you can find alternative options:
Helipal.com: This is a one-stop shop for all things drone-related. Search for camera gimbals and in the product descriptions you will typically find comments on what drones the gimbal will mount to. Helipal is great for shoppers outside of the U.S.ReadymadeRC.com: This is a great family-owned business based out of Ohio. If you can’t find what you need onReadymadeRC.com, you may be out of luck. Their exhaustive list of products makes it a great option for U.S. and Canadian customers.- Photography Store: Online photo supply stores, such as B&H or Adorama, are great outlets for finding a broad selection of camera accessories and equipment. If you have another camera website you typically frequent, search for “drone camera gimbal” on the sight, and see what you come up with.
Amazon.com: You can find almost anything on Amazon. Search for camera gimbals available through several different companies. This is a great way to price shop, read customer reviews, and even find some support documentation all before you buy.
Choosing the right gimbal
As you continue to research the right gimbal for your drone, you will find that not unlike shopping for the right drone, gimbals also come in many shapes, sizes, and combinations of features. Gimbals designed for specific drones will offer high end features that you may not be able to find from gimbals that are a little more universal. Major features include:
Number of axes: Gimbals for drones are either 2-axis or 3-axis. 2-axis gimbals do not compensate for yaw, which means that there will be slightly more bump in your images. 3-axis compensates for yaw, but this feature comes at a cost (naturally). If you are spending the money on a gimbal, you should go for the 3-axis.
Gimbals with three axes are generally heavier than their 2-axis counterparts. A heavier gimbal means shorter flight times. Be sure to prepare to cut your flight shorter than normal when using a heavier 3-axis gimbal.- Remote control: One of the benefits to buying a gimbal built specifically for your drone is integration into the flight controller. For example, some gimbals built for the DJI Phantom 2 can patch into the drone so that the camera’s tilt angle can be adjusted remotely.
- Camera support: Gimbals are designed with specific cameras in mind. There are some gimbals that come with support for multiple compact camera types. Primarily, you will find that gimbals are designed with support for the GoPro camera because of its wide use in action sports and aerial photography and videography. Make sure the gimbal you select supports your camera.
- Pre-Calibration: Calibrating a gimbal can be somewhat tedious for beginners. A gimbal that comes pre-calibrated and ready to simply plug and play is the fastest and easiest way to get up and running. Gimbals made specifically for your drone should almost always come pre-calibrated. Calibrating isn’t difficult, but it is one more step you have to take before getting airborne.
Once you have chosen the gimbal for you, installation should be a cinch. Zenmuse is a popular line of Gimbals by DJI that offer supreme technology and ease of use all bundled into one. Before you rip open the package, your best place to start is with the instruction manual or user guide. You can also find several assembly and installation instructions on YouTube. Regardless of what you decide to go with, remember that using any gimbal is better than not using a gimbal at all. The gimbal helps reduce vibration generated by your drone’s motors. The gimbal will also stabilize your video and pictures while in flight. If you aren’t convinced yet, spend some time on YouTube searching for drone videos shot with gimbals. That will make a believer out of you!
Stabilizing Footage after It Is Shot
Reducing unwanted shaking and motion from your video requires a lot of preparation before you start shooting and as much, if not more, care during your shoot. Camera skills, flight experience, add-on hardware like gimbals, and advanced image stabilization software found in many cameras today can all help you capture the best footage possible. Sometimes, however, no matter how much work you put into it, footage can still come out a bit rough. If you find that your footage is still a little more shaken than stirred for your liking, there is still hope.
Turbo Video Stabilizer
Turbo Video Stabilizer is an affordable action video editing software created by a company called Muvee. This software is less than $20 and boasts some of the best video stabilization available at consumer prices. Their technique is designed to simulate the stability of a gimbal, applying the effect to footage you’ve already shot. Figure 13-6 shows the Turbo Video Stabilizer website.
Courtesy of Tucker Krajewski
Figure 13-6: Stabilize your footage with Turbo Video Stabilizer.
Adobe After Effects (AE)
Adobe After Effects (AE) is a high-end video editing software package that offers many tools for the video editing professional. AE can be used for animation, motion graphics, and other advanced video editing. It can also be used for simple yet critical tasks like removing the Harlem-shake from your video. Warp Stabilizer VFX is a plugin for AE that meticulously cleans up and stabilizes video footage.
Adobe After Effects is part of the Adobe Creative Suite that is available to use for a low monthly fee. If you are a student at a high school or university, speak to your advisor about whether or not your school has a negotiated educational discount.
YouTube
Google’s video channel is the second largest internet search engine in the world (the first is Google). Recent statistics show that over 100 hours of video footage are uploaded to YouTube ever minute. That’s a lot of video footage! As YouTube has grown and evolved, it has begun expanding video editing features on its website. A recently added feature is one that reduces shake from your video. This was initially intended to help clean up video captured with mobile phones, but it is proving to be useful in cleaning up footage captured with aerial cameras, too. YouTube is available almost everywhere around the world, it is free and so incredibly easy to use that it only makes sense to try it out. To remove shake using YouTube’s video editor, follow these steps:
- Using your computer, you will need to open a web browser and go to
www.youtube.comand log into your account. If you do not have a YouTube account, you can register for one at no cost atwww.youtube.com. Once logged in, click the Upload button located in the top right corner of your web browser.
The video upload page loads in your web browser, giving you the option to browse your computer for the video you want to upload and edit. Or you can drag-and-drop the video onto this screen.
Drag the video you want to upload and drop it into the browser window where indicated, as shown in Figure 13-7.
YouTube receives the file and uploads it into your YouTube account. You will automatically be taken to the video editing page where you can edit your video before saving and publishing.
Now that your video is finished uploading, click Save Changes to save the video and then click Video Manager located at the bottom of the screen.
Your browser automatically takes you to the video manager.
Your newly uploaded video will appear at the top of the list; click edit to edit your video.
Your browser automatically takes you to the video editor where you can edit and manipulate your video.
Once in the Video editor, click the
enhancementslink at the top of the screen.The browser window switches to the enhancements screen where you can perform numerous tweaks to your video.
Locate and click the Stabilize button.
YouTube processes your video, detecting and removing unnecessary motion from your video. You can preview the changes in the video viewer located in the middle of the screen before saving the modifications.
- When you are satisfied with the changes to your video, click Save to save your edited video.
Figure 13-7: The YouTube video uploader is drag and drop.