so i've been going through my footage from the last few months and honestly every clip looks the same to me. i fly up, i get a wide shot of whatever landscape or building im looking at, maybe do a slow pan, come back down. technically its fine i think but its just... boring? like i watch other peoples videos and there's something about the way they move and frame things that makes it feel cinematic and mine just looks like google earth with smoother transitions lol

i dont know if its a composition thing or a movement thing or maybe im just not editing it right. probably all three. anyone been through this phase and have advice on how to actually develop an eye for this stuff, or is it just one of those things that comes with time

yeah i went through exactly this and still kind of am if im honest. one thing that helped me a lot was forcing myself to think about leading lines before i even take off ? like rivers, roads, shorelines, rows of trees, anything that draws the eye through the frame. instead of just centering your subject try positioning it at an intersection point and let something lead into it. also flying lower than you think you should is a big one, everybody defaults to going as high as possible but some of the best shots ive seen are like 20-30 feet up where you still get context but you can actually see texture in whatever youre shooting.

movement wise, combining two things at once changes everything. like slowly rising while also rotating, or a dolly shot that also drops altitude slightly. single axis moves just feel static after a while. takes practice to coordinate without it looking shaky but worth experimenting with in a big open field first

honestly a big part of it for me was editing. i was keeping too many shots and cutting too slow. try cutting down to only your absolute best 3 or 4 clips from a session and see how that changes the feeling, also dont be afraid to speed ramp stuff even slightly, it adds energy without being too obvious. color grading matters way more than i expected too ? even a subtle lut on flat footage can make it feel completely diffrent. theres some free ones floating around that are specifically made for drone footage, worth searching around for those