The island of Sardinia - an aerial view using the DJI Phantom!

Last week I posted photos of the WRC race in Sardinia, Italy. It was a lot of fun to shoot photos of the rally car race, but I also had a blast traveling around the island to shoot photos and videos with my new DJI Phantom II Vision + drone.

As many of you know, I have been shooting photos for more than 10 years, and almost all of those were taken with a camera in my hands or mounted close to the ground. After getting the Phantom II and using the remote control to shoot photos and videos from a high altitude, I was totally blown away! It is really liberating to shoot images from a perspective that was previously impossible. Well...I guess I could have hired a helicopter to capture some of the images, but that would be incredibly expensive and I doubt that they would fly in some of the locations that a small drone could cover. (Make sure to watch the video at the end of this blog to see the Phantom in action.)

This first photo was taken from out over the Tyrrhenian Sea, looking back at the town of Alghero. When I was walking around Alghero, I saw stores selling post cards with photos like this, and thought "Hey - I can get that shot with the Phantom II!"

I had previously practiced flying the drone at home, and was ready for the longer, more challenging flights in Sardinia. It was a little scary flying the drone so far from me that I could not see it anymore, but I still had visuals on my iPhone, and knew that if I went too far, the drone would come back to where it started. People kept asking me about the range of the Phantom, which appeared to be approximately 2,000 feet.

After shooting the distant shot, I decided to fly the Phantom in closer to get some other photos of the old city and the harbor.

I saw the opportunity to show off the clarity of the water from above the harbor.

I wanted to shoot some photos high over our hotel, and sent the Phantom up over 500 feet to get this shot.

Another high altitude photo taken high above Alghero. This time I think I was over 800 feet in altitude.  I could have gone higher, but I got a little nervous and stopped there. With photo opportunities like these, I found myself using the drone more than my Canon DSLR cameras.

In between shooting a couple of different stages of the WRC race, we stopped in this small town to get some refreshments. I saw this old church and had to run back to the car to grab the Phantom. And yes, everywhere I went with the drone, I was the center of attention. It was funny to hear people speak Italian around me with the word "drone" being the only word I understood.

We were returning from a long day of shooting, when I saw the evening light shining on the Basilica of the Holy Trinity of Saccargia. I called ahead to the car in front of us and and asked if we could turn around and grab some photos and videos of this well known church. They readily agreed.

On my last day in Sardinia, we made a trip to the North East part of the island, where I captured these photos. It was very different from where we were staying on the West side of Sardinia.

Amazing coast lines!

 There were some amazing yachts in this harbor.

This is one of my favorite photos from the trip. Just look at that water - so beautiful!

To see the video much larger (and in full resolution - and I recommend choosing 1080p resolution), click here.

I usually do not shoot video with my DSLR cameras, but with the Phantom, it is so easy to switch from stills to video, that I found myself shooting a ton of video. I put together this 5 minute video to show you some of my favorite aerial views of Sardinia and the WRC race. You can also see how amazingly smooth the video is, even when flying the Phantom in windy conditions over the water.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos and videos as much as I did capturing them!

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If you are interested in purchasing any camera equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. I would really appreciate that.
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