so anyway i finally got to a point where im not cringing at my own photos and wanted to share what actually helped because most of the youtube tutorials i watched were either too basic or were basically just ads for presets.

the biggest thing for me was learning about composition before even touching the editing. i was so focused on getting the settings right that i wasnt thinking about what made the shot interesting in the first place. started paying attention to leading lines ? roads, rivers, field edges, that kind of thing ? and trying to position the drone so those lines pulled your eye through the frame instead of just shooting straight down at something and calling it done.

on the editing side i stopped using presets almost entirely. they never quite fit the light conditions you actually had and then you spend more time fighting the preset than just editing the photo. now i start by just getting the exposure and white balance where they feel right, then i lift the shadows a little and bring the highlights down, and usually do a slight S curve in the tone curve. nothing crazy but it makes a big difference. dehaze in lightroom is also kind of addictive once you discover it, dont overdo it though because you can tell immediately when someone went too heavy on it.

anyway just thought id share in case anyone else was spinning their wheels like i was for a while

the leading lines thing is so true and i feel like its underrated in aerial specifically. when youre up high its tempting to just frame everything symmetrically right in the middle of the shot because it looks clean, but symmetrical and interesting are not always the same thing. some of my favorite shots are the ones where i put the horizon or a road at the rule of thirds line and it just feels more alive somehow. took me embarrassingly long to stop centering everything.

also agree on the presets, i wasted probably two months buying packs and trying to make them work before i just sat down and learned what each slider actually does. now i can get a photo where i want it in like 5 minutes and it actually looks like the light from that specific day instead of some generic moody filter.

dehaze is dangerouse in the wrong hands lol. seen so many drone shots where the sky looks like someone smeared vaseline on a TV screen because of overdone dehaze and clarity sliders. but yeah when its subtle it genuinely does make aerial shots pop, especially if you were shooting through any haze at altitude. good writeup