Optical delusion

[UasDriver]

snow blower around the back yard for deer n cats, ~18" of snow. only tweaks to the image are brightness/contrast. guessing it's the camera that couldn't recon with reality, or is this a "typical" anomaly?

 

[herein2021]

I guess I'm not sure what you are asking or what you expected vs what you got, do you mean the image looks too flat or do you mean the colors are off? To me there are a few things going on with the image that make it difficult to process:

• Camera Angle - The camera angle is too severe straight down, it makes the image lose dimensionality which makes it difficult to process mentally. I rarely ever shoot straight down shots because of this. A better drone composition is to always shoot at an angle and to show some of the horizon or at least give the viewer some sense of where the horizon should be in order to be able to mentally process the orientation of the image.
• Exposure - The image is under exposed. The snow is too dark as is the rest of the image for a snowy scene. If you look at the histogram for this image I am pretty sure that it will be far to the left of center which means it is under exposed
• Color Cast - There is a green color cast over most of the image either due to an ND filter or something else. If the image was shot as a RAW image then the color cast could be a problem with your RAW processor not properly interpretating the raw image data; if it was shot as a JPG then your WB tint, temp, or both could be off. If it is caused by the ND filter then you would need to shoot RAW and try to correct the cast with a tint correction towards magenta in post. To me the green looks like smudges though so it looks more like an ND filter issue.
• White Balance - The white balance is off; the snow should be the white reference point but instead it is heading into the green tint territory, this could be fixed if it were shot RAW
• Dimensionality - If you are trying to show dimensionality with only 18" of snow using a wide angle drone camera then you would need to be a lot lower, a lot closer, and at more of an angle in reference to the target composition.

 

[UasDriver]

sorry, not talking the image as image, more the image yielding "an illusion"
in real world there is a 30" wide, 18" deep, plowed to grass loop;
In the image, the "right" side looks "full of snow", footprints are "positive's " as you move CCW the prints become normal, "dropping into the plowed area" .

if you zoom the image, then the "illusion" fades, all footprints are negative.

 

[herein2021]

sorry, not talking the image as image, more the image yielding "an illusion"
in real world there is a 30" wide, 18" deep, plowed to grass loop;
In the image, the "right" side looks "full of snow", footprints are "positive's " as you move CCW the prints become normal, "dropping into the plowed area" .

if you zoom the image, then the "illusion" fades, all footprints are negative.

I think its a combination of the camera angle and lighting. If the camera were a bit farther back, lower, and showed some kind of reference point for the horizon the illusion would be gone. In the photography world, especially for portraits, you always have to check the composition to ensure there is separation from the subject and the background to add dimensionality to the image. If a person is too close to a background, if their hair blends in with the background, if they are standing right in front of a tree with the trunk of the tree appearing to come out of the top of their head......all of these cause undesirable optical illusions.

With drone cameras it is the same scenario....completely top down images are way too flat and too two dimensional to me. The wide angle lens already tends to reduce the appearance of normal aspect ratios for objects; combine that with lack of object separation and many undesirable effects can occur.

The camera is certainly capable of properly capturing the example image, but the camera position in relation to the composition would need to be modified to do so.

 

[UasDriver]

way too flat and too two dimensional to me.

that's the missing puzzle piece, thanks. I'm an abstract painter so I like "oddity", I'm also engineering, so I need to know the why ?

I made it my computer background, the boot prints, snow color, reminds me of one of the Pic's from the moon

 

[quinn karter]

Weird

 

[Rubik3x]

that's the missing puzzle piece, thanks. I'm an abstract painter so I like "oddity", I'm also engineering, so I need to know the why ?

I made it my computer background, the boot prints, snow color, reminds me of one of the Pic's from the moon

Yes, I get your illusion. The direction of light and shadows plays tricks on our perception of depth.
As to herein's comments about shooting straight down, I agree that it is disorienting to the viewer. However, I've noticed that quite a few award winning aerial photos are looking straight down. They usually include interesting patterns that are not noticeable from a lower angle.

 

[UasDriver]

Since I fly with RC only, there isn't anything to "play with" except gimble tilt, so I'm constantly tweaking it, depending on shot. I like 30 - 60 degrees most times. It's kinda funny, if I tried and planned that shot, i'd miss it, love the happy accidents
thanks for the feedback

dave