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WORTH THE RISK? Taking Photographs over the SEA with my Drone

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In this latest video I take you behind the scenes from the first day with my new drone; the DJI Air 2S as I dare to fly it out over the Atlantic Ocean in Cornwall to capture a photograph that simply would not be possible without it…

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DJI Air 2S ... VERY HAPPY that I Upgraded

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Over the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting, doing more and more photography with my drone, which up until recently was the DJI Air 2.

I’ve had this drone for little while now but mainly used it for video footage that I use in my YouTube videos, but lately I’d been trying out for its stills capability.

Overall I was kind of happy.

Sure the quality wasn’t up there with my Sony A7RIV (especially in low light conditions) but the stills were pretty good. I was however curious about the upgrade to the Air 2S with its 1” sensor; could it really be that much better than my Air 2?

In short … YES!

I asked on YouTube if anyone had any thoughts and experience of the difference between the Air 2 and the Air 2S, and ALL comments were that the upgrade is definitely worth it … so I went for it.

The very first morning I had with the new drone, we had the most stunning light and conditions and the Air 2S worked an absolute treat.

Flying was definitely more responsive, but it was when looking at the Raw files back on the computer that the benefits of the upgrade was so obvious.

Later the same day I headed over to Cornwall, and one of my favourite locations, Trevose Head, to see what the drone could do over the sea.

I’ll admit to being a little nervous but despite the stronger than I would have wanted winds, and the more then inquisitive seagulls, the Air 2S handled the conditions with ease.

The ability to get compositions that just wouldn’t ordinarily be possible, excites the heck out of me; the creative possibilities are endless.

I ended up going for the “Fly More” combo which includes extra batteries, rotor blades, ND filters and a carry case, but what’s great is that the batteries from my Air 2 are compatible, so I now have 6 batteries giving plenty of flying time before I even think about recharging on the go.

Today I also got a Circular Polariser so I’m curious how that actually works on a drone as you have to manually rotate it to get the desired effect depending on where the lens is pointed.

So, lots of testing to be done and lots of photography to enjoy ahead that ordinarily wouldn’t be possible, but to say I’m happy with the quality of the images this thing produces, would be an understatement!

Oh and this weeks video on my YouTube Channel will be showing some Behind the Scenes from the first outings.

Cheers,
Glyn

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Look Up Tables (LUTs): THIS is what you're doing WRONG! How to MAKE, SAVE, EXPORT and EDIT

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A few weeks ago I shared a video on my YouTube Channel showing how to install and use Look Up Tables (LUTs) in all versions of Lightroom, per it Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Lightroom Mobile and Lightroom on the Web.

Following on from that I did get a few questions asking about problems using LUTs in Photoshop with error messages being thrown back and images being made to look, well, awful.

So, here’s a video I’ve put together to show how to Make, Save, Export and Edit LUTs without any errors.

Enjoy

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Photographing Whiteford Lighthouse in South Wales with my Drone

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So a few days ago I headed back to photograph Whiteford Lighthouse in South Wales; the very same place that only a couple of weeks ago I very nearly smashed my camera, lens and a filter.

Not one to give in though, this time I headed back but with a completely different game plan … to use my Drone instead of my main camera.

My reason for this was that ordinarily to photograph the lighthouse, you have to be near to it so that you can photograph it at the right angle and for that you need to wait for the tide to be out as it is such a long way offshore. Trouble is I didn’t want to photograph the lighthouse when the tide was out so that it was stood on a flat, dry, rocky sea bed with no water around it.

The solution would be to use my DJI Air 2 drone; the question though is, would the quality from the drone be good enough?

Well, I’m VERY happy to say the answer to that question is a definite YES…

Whiteford lighthouse

This time everything came together…

I was joined by my dear friend Anthony Crothers, and having checked the weather, the cloud cover, the tide times and the drone flying zones, when we finally got to the location, it simply couldn’t have been better.

So, here’s a Behind the Scenes video PLUS I go through as bit of the retouching of the final image in both Lightroom and Photoshop…

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Photoshop Layers and Selections Webinar with Rocky Nook Publishers

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Thursday of last week I presented in a webinar hosted by my publishers, Rocky Nook all about my latest book, The Photoshop Layers and Selections Workshop.

It was so good to see so many people tune in LIVE and also to see the numbers of folks that had signed up to be sent the recording.

If you missy it and fancy checking it out, Rocky Nook have also now posted the webinar on their YouTube Channel that I’ve now added below…

At the end of the presnetation we went through a Q&A and one of the questions posted asked about the new selections and masking function in Camera Raw and Lightroom, and in particular about using the Color Range option…

Susan asked…

“Can you only subtract one colour point at a time or can you click multiple times on slight variations in the color in the same subtract operation?”

Originally I answered that I ‘thought’ you could only do one at a time however a friend of mine Trevor Ager messaged me to say that you can actually add more by holding down the Option (Mac) / Alt (Windows) keys and clicking.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Cheers,
Glyn

Good to be Back! Portraits of World War 2 Veterans

After almost 2 years it felt great the other day to be able to photograph another of our World War 2 Veterans…

Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic it’s not been possible and not been safe to take portraits, especially of people in such advanced years, but thankfully now times have changed and I’m able to resume.

This latest portrait is of 101 year old, World War 2 Veteran, Gordon Short who served in the 9th Devons and was attached to the 4th Battalion the Royal West Kents an served in Burma.

I photographed Gordon at his home in Devon which just happens to be a 10 minute drive from my home in the next village having been contacted by one of his sons who’d heard of my 39-45 Portraits Project.

I kept the set up as had in all the previous portraits to ensure continuity…

  • Lighting: Westcott FJ80 Speedlite in a Westcott Rapid Box Switch Large Octa

  • Background: X-Drop Background using the Grey Material*

  • Camera: Sony A7RIV

  • Lens: Sony 55mm f/1.8 ZA

*Ordinarily I would have used my own branded canvas effect background but not knowing how much space I’d have to work in, I opted to use the grey material that comes included with the X-Drop because it folds up to be really compact and when fixing it to the frame you don’t need to roll it out. I then made it look like my canvas background by adding a texture to it in Photoshop.

In the next couple of days I’m heading back to see Gordon and to present him with his portrait, printed and in a mount … cannot wait!

© Glyn Dewis 2025