New Drone | DJI Mavic Air 2

More new equipment….

It’s that time again. New equipment has come through the door. And while this may not be a new drone to a lot of folks that have already owned it for awhile, it is for me, and long overdue. This time it’s the DJI Mavic Air 2. And it’s beautiful :)

DJI Mavic Air 2 along with it’s remote controller.

Smaller and better.

A few core details on this drone from the DJI website….

My thoughts.

I’ve really been utilizing shooting at 4k/60fps when I’m doing video. Its my favorite video combo if I’m being honest. 4k is surely becoming the video standard for content creation, and 60 fps is always solid for slo mo footage reasons. Another setting that I find myself utilizing on the video side is the “D-Cinelike”. This setting is a flat color picture profile for the drones camera and provides a better option when you know you want to color grade by preserving more detail in the highlights and shadows as well as giving an unsaturated look to add color in post.

Photo I haven’t shot much with this drone thus far, however having RAW file capabilities has been nice with the few photos that I have shot. Along with that, the camera has a ton of different photo modes. Panorama and hyperlapse mode are two that I have used. Hyperlapse is incredible and I plan to use it in the future heavily.

The drone actually handles really well and is very tiny for transport (about the size of a Playstation controller?). The drones RC has a cinema feature that creates very slow movement from the drone. I believe this would be great for people just beginning with drone operation, along with people actually looking for slow movement for cinematic videos. The RC range seems to be nice as well. I haven’t had any issues thus far with that, other than flying in the forest and getting some bad signal due to tree interference.

Overall, I take this drone as a intermediate level drone. Considering it’s camera specs, it is fully capable of capturing incredible video and photo content, but considering its size, features, app interface, and simple remote control, I believe beginners should be able to get this up in the air and have fun no problem. Do you own this drone? If not, which one? Let me know your thoughts below.

Shop the drone HERE.



Check out this montage I recently made!

2021 Wedding Season Wrap Up

WHAT A YEAR IT HAS BEEN.

A year after the pandemic and things are rolling in the wedding industry. This has been my busiest year yet and I couldn’t be more thankful for the places I’ve been been, the things I’ve seen, and the people I’ve met. I just wrapped up my last full wedding weekend of the year and have some thoughts…..

Redd wedding. Shot on Nikon Z6 and 24-70mm F4.

Gaymon wedding. Shot on Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm F4.

Wedding photography is not easy, in fact, far from it. I remember a few years ago, getting my first second shooter gig (assistant) in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and having minimal equipment, walking around aimlessly not knowing which way I should looking and who I should be shooting. HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. I know a lot of folks that consider weddings photography an easy money grab, and while there’s a lot of money to be made here, there’s a massive long term and mentally exhausting grind.

Pepe wedding. Shot on Nikon d610 with 50mm 1.8.

Milner wedding. Shot on Nikon Z6 with 80-200mm F2.8.

Speaking of the grind, that would be my main takeaway from this year. If you want to dive deep into the wedding world, LEARN HOW TO NAVIGATE MONEY VS HAPPINESS. I cannot stress this statement enough. Going into this year I began to see bookings just roll in. I work for a few wedding companies as a subcontractor but I also shoot my own weddings. So between these two things I have photographed about 30-40 weddings this year. And that completely blew me out at times. Burnout is a real thing and I learned that the hard way this year. There were countless weekends where i photographed weddings on back to back days and basically had enough time to sleep between them, let alone enough time to charge batteries, dump memory cards, charge batteries, etc. It was exhausting and many times, overwhelming. My biggest takeaway from this year was learning how to navigate this.

Gaymon wedding. Shot on Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm F4.

How do I navigate this? SCHEDULE LESS, BUT CHARGE MORE. Here’s why I feel this way………. I’ve gained a lot of experience from weddings this year. Shooting 30-40 is a vast amount of weddings, meaning a vast amount of experience and knowledge gained. As a result, I feel as though my art and time are more valuable at this point. Hence the price change. Preferably, I’d like to shoot one wedding every two weeks next year. Allowing myself to make money, but then giving myself time to have a free weekend and do as a please. Hopefully this will be a “sweet spot” , providing a great balance.

Kale Wedding. Shot on Nikon D610 with 50mm F1.8.

Ilgenfritz wedding. Shot on Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm F4.

In conclusion, this year has been a massive learning experience with weddings. A year filled with ups and downs. I’m excited to take the things that I’ve learned this year and apply them to the 2022 wedding season.

V8 PRODUCT SHOOT

This fall season has been a busy one. Thankfully my busiest season in my photography career to date. I recently was presented with an exciting opportunity from a creative agency I had worked with a few times in the past. H Influencer Collective recently sent me an email and asked me and a few other creators if we wanted to participate in a campaign for Campbells, who owns V8, the company we all know for their fruit and vegetable drinks. The objective of the shoot being “an active lifestyle”, I hit up a fellow friend, Mara, to do a rollerskating based shoot at the Pennsylvania Capital building in Harrisburg. Super happy to have been a part of this and V8’s response to them.

Recent Engagement Shoot

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Chatney and her Fiance for an engagement shoot. the location they picked out was a beautiful old clock tower int he city of Baltimore. The location was truly one of a kind and unlike anything I’d ever worked in before. I was so excited to see how these photos turned out and they did not let me down!

New YouTube Video!

We are often taught that art needs to have some deep rooted meaning. That art needs to drive emotion. I disagree. Sometimes it's enough to have art that is just pleasing to look at and hear. And that was the base from which this video was created.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/c/WilliamTrostelPhotography

New Gear!?


New year, new gear. In this episode I wanted to discuss what new pieces of gear I've gotten my hands on in late 2020 through early 2021, as well as share my thoughts on each piece.


Cheers to 2021 🎈


YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/vsfMz5NDCdg


ANCHOR PODCASTS: https://anchor.fm/william-trostel/episodes/The-William-Trostel-Photography-Podcast-Episode-2-My-Favorite-Camera-Gear--2021-eqo6n8

New video and the announcement of my new podcast!

2020 was a weird (?) year to say the least. I cant exactly say it was awful, because while at times it was, it was a year of extreme growth. And with that time spent alone and in the house, learning, adapting, and coming up with ideas, a podcast about art and things related to it was born. I hope to utilize this media platform to educate others, inspire, and allow others to speak their mind and their stories via my podcast. If you are an artist who would like to speak, reach out to me. Let's put your story, ideas, and craft out into the world.

Feel free to watch on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/3mC9hOz7dRY

Or listen via Anchor here:

https://anchor.fm/william-trostel

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