this has been bugging me for a while actually. i can get up in the air fine and my exposure is decent now but whenever i look back at my shots they just look like google maps screenshots. like technically fine but no sense of depth or drama or whatever. i see people posting these incredible aerial photos where it feels like you're really there and mine just look flat and boring even of the same kinds of locations.

i think maybe i just go straight up to 120m and shoot straight down every time out of habit? but i dont really know what else to do up there. any thoughts on how to actually think about composition when youre 100m up and looking at a tiny screen

the straight down nadir shot gets old fast, agreed. try bringing the camera angle to like 45 degrees instead of pointing straight down and then finding something with strong lines ? a road, a river, a fence, a shoreline ? and positioning so that line leads from a corner of the frame toward something interesting. leading lines work just as well from the air as they do on the ground, maybe better actually.

also dont underestimate flying lower. like 30-40m with the camera at an angle can feel way more dramatic than 120m straight down because you get that sense of scale with the ground visible. and if theres a shadow being cast by a building or tree that can add so much depth, its worth hovering around and waiting for the light angle to work in your favor if you can. the other thing ? look for textures. fields, parking lots with patterns, tiled roofs. stuff that looks mundane at ground level can look amazing from above if the light is hitting it right.

honestly i had this exact problem and what helped me most was just studying photos i liked and trying to figure out what the pilot actually did to get that shot. like reverse engineering it. not just the location but where were they probaly hovering, what angle, what time of day. made me realize i was always doing the same three moves and never experimenting. also hyperlapse can add motion to an otherwise static composition but thats maybe a different thing