Aerial Fields of Yellow May 2018

The rapeseed fields have started to flower now in early May, later than last year so its time to take to the air for some aerial photography.  last year i managed some great images with the drone on the Wirral but those fields have not been planted this year , so i need to find some different ones.

 Its been proving difficult to find any decent fields, they don't seem to be very good around here at the moment , very patchy as you can see in this image.

                      The sun has already set in this image , the fields taking on a golden glow.

                             
                     The following  Early evening and the clouds are looking very interesting!

 Its turned out really nice , this is a three frame Vertorama ( vertical panorama)  stitched in PTGui program.

Not happy with the fields on the Wirral i am going to take a look out in Cheshire and Shropshire along the A41 near Duckington as there were some good fields out that way last year.
Arriving at about 7 am the light is quite nice but the field from last year has again not been planted , But  i can see one just a field over so i quickly set the phantom 4 pro drone up and get in the air.

      I got lucky with my first image , a field of cows with recently cut field alongside the rapeseed.
the drone was about 120 ft for this image, lower is mostly better for composition and viewing angle compared to the maximum allowed 400ft agl.

                   Panning around a little gives a wider shot using 2 frames merged together.
 Lovely light across the fields at the moment , but the sun is getting higher and the clouds unfortunately are disappearing, so i need to be quick to get a couple more images.

 Here is a 5 frame Vertorama , stitched again in PTGui stitcher ,  having tested Lighrooms panorama stitching it appears to lose alot of detail in direct comparison with PTGui. so i will only use this program from now on.  Good shadows from the low rising sun .

                                 One last image from this location , another 5 frame Vertorama.
The first frame shot is the sky, then i manually adjust the exposure for each sucessive image as the camera is panned downwards.

Time to go find some more fields , i have heard there are some on the way towards Ellesmere.

 I am driving along the a495 towards Ellesmere ,and just past Welshampton i have pulled over in a small lay by next to this fabulous field.     flying at about 12 ft above the flowers in the middle of the field to get this panorama image made up from 3 frames.

From higher up over the bottom end of this field i get a view across to a lake  , but all the clouds are almost gone now, and clear blue sky is not really interesting in an image .

Continuing on to Ellesmere, i have driven around the lake to the far side after spotting the yellow through a gap in the trees.  parking right next to the field.   This is the best composition i could get , 4 frames merged in this one.

 Moving on now to Colemere to get this 180 dgree 21 frame panorama, shot automatically by the drone and then i stitched in PTGui.

 Time to head back home now after a great day , i have about 50% left on one battery.  the sky is turning black behind me , don't know where that has come from as it was completely clear earlier. As i drive past the Welshampton field i had been at earlier, it looks great with dark brooding clouds behind so i turned around and have taken a couple more low level images , these are the best 2. both taken below 30ft