14/09/2026
Owning a drone doesn’t make you a drone photographer.
There, I said it.
Drones have become incredibly accessible. For a relatively modest amount of money, almost anyone can buy a very capable sub-250g drone, complete the necessary registration and start putting a camera in the sky.
And that’s brilliant. I love how accessible this technology has become.
But being able to safely pilot a drone and being able to create a professional photograph with one are two very different skills.
The flying is only part of the job.
You still need to understand light. You need to recognise a strong composition, choose the right angle, work out where the subject sits within the landscape and decide whether being higher actually improves the photograph.
Sometimes the best drone photograph is taken at 40 feet, not 400.
You need to understand shutter speed, exposure, dynamic range and editing. You need to know when the light will work and when it won’t. And you need the judgement to look at a scene from above and turn it into something more interesting than simply, “Look, I’m in the air.”
Then there’s the less glamorous side.
Even with a sub-250g drone, there are still rules around where and how you can fly. Camera-equipped drones require the appropriate CAA registration, and anyone flying commercially needs suitable third-party insurance.
Smaller drones give photographers far more flexibility than we had only a few years ago, including the ability to operate in some areas where heavier aircraft face much greater restrictions. They still don’t remove the responsibility to fly safely, legally and with proper awareness of the people and environment below.
This photograph of the Surrey Hills Wood Fair at the weekend is a good example of why I carry a drone alongside my normal cameras.
The drone gives me another viewpoint.
Photography is what decides whether that viewpoint becomes a worthwhile photograph.
The same things matter whether my camera is in my hands or several hundred feet above my head: light, timing, angle, composition and knowing what belongs inside the frame.
A drone is a fantastic camera.
But it’s still just a camera.
