“Gentle the Night time.” That’s what drone pilot and photographer Craig Coker calls his drone pictures challenge.

Simply don’t assume that each reference of ‘drone pictures’ means the drone is taking the picture. That’s actually not what’s taking place with Gentle the Night time.

With Coker’s distinctive type of pictures, the picture you’re comes from a digicam on the bottom — however the drone is essential to the picture. That’s as a result of the drone offers the sunshine supply for the picture.

Right here’s only one beautiful instance from Coker’s “Gentle the Night time” challenge:

Coker has spent years now toying with the idea of placing lights on drones, which might then functioning as an aerial, shifting highlight for objects on the bottom. With the launch of the Sony Airpeak S1 drone within the ultimate week of 2021, his concept was lastly capable of pan out because the drone was able to lifting the lights he wanted to place within the air, whereas additionally flying in a dependable method, significantly at excessive speeds and on aggressive flight paths.

So with the drone in hand, he got down to obtain his imaginative and prescient of photographing varied athletes at evening. See how he did it in a 6-minute lengthy YouTube video right here:

How they pulled off “Gentle the Night time”

The athletes/fashions used for “Gentle the Night time” have been skilled off-road driver Blake Wilkey, skilled freestyle skier Joss Christensen and world champion skimboarder and social media sensation Austin Eager, and he labored with different crew together with Lee Stockwell, Brandon Skinner and Johnny V to tug all of it off.

The gear used was a Sony Airpeak drone, outfitted with a Godox AD300 out of doors flash and the Gentle & Movement Reflex S LED/Flash Head. In addition they used a Gremsy Gimbal for tilt management and stabilized gentle.

Utilizing a distant for the drone hooked up to a chest mount harness system, in addition to his Sony Alpha 1 hooked up to a tripod, Coker might fly the Airpeak after which shoot a photograph at mainly the identical time. And from there, he generated nighttime pictures with the drone performing as a flying gentle part.

Whereas this particular instance is inventive in nature, it might pave the way in which for different business and industrial purposes which might be related in that drones aren’t flying cameras, however fairly are flying gentle sources. Coker stated rocket corporations like SpaceX who do a number of their inspections at evening have approached him about utilizing the drones to highlight sure parts of the big aircrafts, or it might be helpful for search and rescue missions — a lot of which additionally happen at evening.

In regards to the photographer, Craig Coker

If the identify Craig Coker sounds acquainted, that’s since you met him final month on my web site in a Q&A. Coker is totally THE man to know in drones. He builds them, he consults on them and naturally he flies and images with them. At present, Coker has a contract with Sony because the Japanese digicam firm’s official drone pilot for its Sony Airpeak S1 drone. Not solely is he taking footage for Sony although, however he’s placing the drone via stress exams to search out flaws in them, and he’s working instantly with designers to make options for enhancements.

Previous to becoming a member of Sony, he consulted with different main drone makers together with DJI, 3DR, Yuneec and GoPro. He was instrumental within the 3DR Solo drone, the place he helped work on a light-weight supply for Solo too, and he was there within the early days of the unique DJI Phantom.

And never solely is he an skilled in drones, however he’s an skilled in motion sports activities. Up till about 10 years in the past, he was knowledgeable freestyle skier, touring the world, which partially is what piqued his curiosity in motion sports activities pictures. He’s additionally knowledgeable race automobile driver. The person is multi-faceted and exponentially extra multi-talented.

And with Gentle the Night time, all Coker’s passions — drones, pictures and motion sports activities — converge into one.

“The thought of a light-weight supply on Airpeak has been unimaginable,” he stated. “I couldn’t do it with most different drones.”

Try a full evaluation of the Sony Airpeak S1 drone right here.

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