i dunno maybe im doing something wrong but every time i fly at the beach the shots just look flat and kinda generic. like water, sand, repeat. ive seen other peoples coastal stuff and it looks amazing but mine always looks like a real estate ad. i was out at the inlet last week with pretty decent conditions, little bit of wave action, pelicans doing their thing, and i still came home with nothing i was excited about.

do you guys plan your shots beforehand or just kinda freestyle it and see what happens? im thinking maybe im just flying too high and not getting close enough to the water surface but im nervous about it honestly

get lower. seriously that is like 90 percent of the answer for coastal footage. that low angle where the lens is almost skimming the wave tops is what makes it pop, but yeah you gotta be comfortable with your aircraft to do it safely. i lost a mavic air doing exactly that a few years ago so i get the nerves but if you know your drone and the conditions are calm its not that bad. also shoot into the sun or with it at a side angle, shooting with sun behind you is always going to look flat

i fele like this all the time tbh. i think part of it is just beach footage is SO overdone that nothing feels fresh anymore. what helped me was finding weird angles on stuff thats not the ocean itself, like the shadows the pier pilings make or pulling back really slowly from a tide pool. basically stop treating the water as the subject i guess