Behind the scenes video: Drone-mounted LED lights the way for nighttime ski shoot

 

 

We already know that drones can carry more than just cameras. Amazon, for instance, thinks it’ll be delivering your cat food via quadcopter within the next five years. So it’s not really a big surprise to see aerial videographers sending their lighting rigs up into the sky—but it’s still really cool.

Aerial video specialist Simon Sjörén and his crew used two Black Armored Drone hexacopters (six propellers) for a nighttime ski shoot in Åre, Sweden. One of the drones carried a Red Epic camera (it’s too heavy for the more common DJI Phantom quadcopter), while the other drone carried a super-bright, flicker-free LED lighting rig by Digital Sputnik.

It wasn’t an easy shoot, said the drone pilots in the behind-the-scenes video. The wind and near-total darkness made it hard to fly. Even the subject, pro skier Henrik Windstedt, was a bit skeptical that it would work. The final clip ends up being rather short, but it provides even more inspiration for what you can do with flying cameras. Aerial lighting rigs probably make the most sense for nighttime shoots like this one, but we're sure that clever photographers will find reasons to strap other accessories to their drones. The caption on the video does say it's a promo for an upcoming project, so perhaps more footage from these dualing drones will be released later on?

(Via ISO 1200)