Writing this rather late in the day, but I’m sharing something rather special today, so it’s worth the extra effort. I mentioned in an earlier post on this blog how we’re collaborating with Heritage Malta on a project investigating the use of drones to survey heritage sites. The test site chosen was that of Ta’ Ħaġrat in Mġarr (the link takes you to the official page for the site). It’s a place of special personal significance, as my maternal grandparents are from Mġarr, and I have fond memories of visiting the site with my grandpa. I consider myself very lucky to be able to combine something I enjoy so much with my regular work.
Drones are not normally allowed over the site, for obvious reasons, so it was a privilege to be able to do this (with the curators’ permission, of course). I flew a manual mission, maintaining complete control at all times. Once the main mission was done, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the whole site. I particularly like the overhead view (first photo, above), but of course had to take the more ‘classic’ view from the front of the main temple entrance (two different angles, below).
I must say I remain impressed by the overall quality of this drone for photography. Even with scenes that have a high contrast (as in this case), RAW capture provides more than enough dynamic range. And my usual photography processing software has the necessary optics model to be able to fix lens softness and any geometrical distortion very nicely.
It is a privilege to be able to view such important archeological sites from such a perspective. I have a big problem with drones but it is hard to maintain that stance when viewing the results. Malta is a wonderful wonderful country. Thank you for sharing
Thanks for the comment, Keith! I must say I’m not a big fan of drones myself. Generally hate their noise and how intrusive they can be, in fact. I’ve come to think of them more as tools, to get a job done that cannot really be done in any other way. So I think of each flight as a mission, with very specific objectives. And I avoid doing these missions when there’s other people about.