When it comes to shooting drone photography in cold weather, the general rule of thumb is: you don’t. As much as possible, you don’t want to go flying your drone in the cold. The reason behind this is because the cold weather can really do a number on the internal mechanism of your drone.

Worst case scenario, the cold weather freezes the wirings inside your drone, rendering the drone incapable of flying. However, it can be done. Make sure you check your drone’s manual to see the temperatures that it can withstand. Take care to never fly your drone out if it has been specified that it cannot handle the temperature outside.

Even if there’s no snow out, the wrong temperature can really mess up your drone. If you see that the temperatures outside can still be handled by your drone, and you decide to shoot, keep in mind some of these tips.

Shorten your flight time

During colder weather, always account for a shorter flight time than you’d expect out of your battery. This is because the cold weather is going to affect your battery, resulting in a shorter flight time. If you’re going to be shooting drone photography in cold weather, always make sure that your batteries are charged up to a hundred percent.

Keep your battery warm

Because the colder weather is going to shorten your drone’s flight time, it’s highly recommended that you keep your batteries warm before the flight begins. If your battery is already cold even before the drone photography flight can begin, there’s a very good chance that you won’t even be able to get it off the ground.

Keep it warm by wrapping it in a scarf or a sweater. You can always keep it in an insulated bag to keep the cold air out, or simply keep it in your coat near your body warmth.

Check your voltage

Voltage is another big thing to look out for when flying your drone. Some of the higher-end models have applications that help you keep an eye out on the state of your battery while shooting your drone photography.

Keep a close eye on this, if the voltage drops too low, it indicates that there’s not much juice left in the battery, and that it’s time to bring it back as soon as possible. If your drone runs out of battery mid-flight, it will fall out of the sky, potentially damaging it.

Before flying, test things out to make sure everything’s okay

Before taking off for your drone photography shoot, give your drone a chance to hover for about a minute to make sure that everything’s okay. This also helps warm it up, and lets you take a look at all the battery stats to make sure nothing happens in the middle of the flight.