Smoke in Pleasanton, CA (From SF North Bay Wildfires)

If you guys have not heard the breaking news yet, there is several huge fires (including forest fires) currently burning in the San Francisco North Bay. The entire San Francisco Bay Area has been covered in a thick layer of smoke from the fires. Today I went around Pleasanton, CA taking photos of the smoke in the area. The photos were shot with my new Panasonic LUMIX LX10 and my phone. This month's travel vlog can be viewed here.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution of any photo you see here (except the cellphone photos), you can do so here.

I'm starting off with the photos shot with my Panasonic LUMIX LX10.

Smoke in Pleasanton Tennis & Community Park.

Smoke over Pleasanton Canal shot near Pleasanton Tennis & Community Park.

Smoke over Pleasanton Canal shot near Pleasanton Tennis & Community Park.

Smoke near Pleasanton Tennis & Community Park.

Smoke in Pleasanton Tennis & Community Park.

Smoke in Hansen Park.

Smoke in Ken Mercer Sports Park.

Sun behind the smoke. Photo from Ken Mercer Sports Park.

Smoke in Ken Mercer Sports Park.

I had to get a dust mask. My seasonal allergies was already going on with the plant matter in the air, so my seasonal asthma was already triggered. The smoke in the air made it a lot worse. The dust mask definitely helped. This is the stuff they use in China on a good day. The Home Depot was out of the better dust masks. This will have to do for now. The price I have to pay for photo journalism right?

Smoke in Ken Mercer Sports Park.

Sun behind the smoke. Photo from a residential area.

Smoke in the air in a residential area.

Sun behind the smoke. Photo from a residential area.

Now this begins the cellphone photos:

Smoke in the air in a residential area.

I lied when I said all the photos were from Pleasanton, CA. Turns out one of my cellphone photos was from my trip the San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore, CA. You can see the smoke in the air.

Smoke in the air in Pleasanton, CA.

This is all the photos for today. I hope this blog post has helped you realize the magnitude of these fires. This month's travel vlog can be viewed here. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

My second drone flight!

If you saw the blog post I posted yesterday, you will know I got a new DJI Phantom 3 Professional Quadcopter!! This was a Christmas gift from my parents. So, expect new and exciting aerial photography from Sunny! :) These photos on the blog post will not be on my portfolio or anything as this was just a casual shoot with the quadcopter. I was mainly just practicing how to fly this thing, my focus wasn't photography. I just shot off a few random photos for fun and as a special treat today, I also shot video for vlogging (this will come up later this week if I finish processing it). The photos were shot in RAW and processed in Photoshop. Trust me, the JPEGs straight from the camera was pretty below average, however the RAW data is good! I was able to get a ton of detail out of that.

What are the results today? I brought a blanket as a helipad for this thing. It made take off easier and made sure nothing touched the camera gimbal while the quadcopter was grounded. Also I managed to successfully land the drone on the tiny piece of blanket, not once, but twice today! Yes, I'm starting to get the hang of how to land this thing on a very small target. That was a success. I'm also learning a tiny bit on how to fly FPV so I can fly it a bit further while it is up really high in the air.

The photos (again) are shot at Ken Mercer Sports Park in Pleasanton, CA.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best aerial photos for 2016, use this link. To see all of my random 2016 aerial photos, use this link.

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

My first drone flight!

That is right folks! I got a new DJI Phantom 3 Professional Quadcopter. This was a Christmas gift from my parents. So, expect new and exciting aerial photography from Sunny! :) Piloting this thing will be fun. These photos on the blog post will not be on my portfolio or anything as this was just a casual shoot with the quadcopter. I was mainly just practicing how to fly this thing today, my focus wasn't photography. I just shot off a few random photos for fun. The photos were shot in RAW and processed in Photoshop. Trust me, the JPEGs straight from the camera was pretty below average, however the RAW data is good! I was able to get a ton of detail out of that.

Results... Return to Home works well... Automatic landing works well... Signal at 120m altitude (maximum legal height in the US) was great... Manual landing, I need to practice. I tried to land the thing manually once and sorta screwed it up. I flew it down, and because I descended a bit too fast, the air got a bit turbulent as the quadcopter hit the ground (at around 1-2 feet) and started wobbling from the back draft of air getting forced up from the uneven grass. I did get it down to the ground however, but that is where I messed up. I should have kept the throttle down for a bit for the motor to slow down before giving it a CSC to cut power to the motors. I did not do that and ended up toppling the quadcopter over where it proceeded to rip grass and dirt out of the ground. No damage, but I did get grass juice and little bits of grass on the quadcopter (mostly on the propellers). LOL That came off later easily with a wet paper towel.

Photos where shot at the Ken Mercer Sports Park in Pleasanton, CA. There are a ton of open grass area with little people here and without much trees to crash into. I thought it was a pretty good place to do my first flight and to practice at.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos (other than the photos of me), please contact me here. To view my best aerial photos for 2016, use this link. To see all of my Pleasanton, CA 2016 aerial photos, use this link.

Here is a photo of your drone pilot... Sunny! I had my glasses on as I'm nearsighted and I figured it would be better I have a clear view of the quadcopter while in flight. They are transitions so it darkened itself while outdoors.  

 I know out of safety reasons, you should never flyover anyone or yourself, but... I had to do a top down shot like this. :D

A photo from an altitude of 120 meters above ground (the maximum legal altitude permitted in the US). The photo is of the Ken Mercer Sports Park (as you can see it is a huge park) and also Shadow Cliff Regional Park (which should be somewhere on the right in the distance). 

Another aerial photography shot of Pleasanton, CA (with Dublin, CA off in the distance). This photo was also shot at 120 meters above ground. 

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.