so ive been practicing in an empty parking lot near my house for a few weeks now and i can do basic stuff ok i guess. hovering is fine, going forward and backward is fine, but im still kind of shaky when i try to rotate and move at the same time. you know like when you're trying to film something and pan around it. my footage looks terrible still.

i want to go fly somewhere actually interesting, like theres a lake near me with some cool views, but i feel like i'll just crash it or something will go wrong. is there a point where you just kind of know you're ready or does everyone just wing it and hope for the best. also not sure if the lake area has restrictions i should check

honestly nobody ever feels fully ready the first time they go somewhere new, thats just how it is. what i'd say is if you can do a figure 8 without too much wobble and you can bring it back to yourself from a decent distance without panicking, you're probably okay for a low-stakes spot like a lake. just stay lower and slower than you think you need to and dont try to do anything fancy on your first time there.

for the airspace question definitely check before you go. b4ufly app is the easiest thing, just open it at the location and it'll tell you if theres any restrictions. google maps alone wont tell you this stuff so dont rely on that

the rotating and moving at the same time thing took me foreverrr to get comfortable with. what helped me was practicing what i think people call orbiting, where you pick a fixed object and try to keep the camera on it while flying in a circle around it. its hard at first but after a while your hands just kind of figure it out. the footage still wont look cinematic right away but at least you stop crashing trying to do it lol