December 2020 saw eastern areas of the UK exceed their normal December rainfall by the middle of the month and Storm Bella brought more heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the UK on December 26th.

As the rainwater accumulated the rivers downstream began to burst their banks, and as we approached the new year towns in Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire saw extensive flooding. Our local town in east Northamptonshire was no exception. These high definition photographs were taken using a DJI Phantom drone and show the extent of the flooding in Oundle and how properties and businesses along the edge of the floodplain were affected.

A bird’s-eye view using aerial photography

These images show how useful a drone is for getting a ‘bird’s-eye’ view of any situation and how quickly and safely a drone can be deployed to photograph a transient event. The Catalyst team were able to find a safe and accessible location to deploy their drone and managed to document the flooding from all angles.

Aerial HDR photography – high dynamic range images

One of the best features of the DJI Phantom drone is the ability to produce High Dynamic Range (HDR) photographs. This is a process whereby the drone’s camera captures a series of 3 or 5 images one after another at varying exposures. Once the images are downloaded back at the studio they can be merged together using sophisticated photographic software to produce an image that is correctly exposed for both the very bright areas and the very dark areas of the image – very useful if you are having to shoot into a low winter sun that is also being reflected in the floodwaters. Read more about HDR imaging.

Contact Catalyst Video Services to find out how aerial HDR photography can benefit your projects

For more information and a no-obligation quotation please contact Catalyst on 01832 293175 or email: info@catalyst-video.co.uk

Leave a Reply