Forest Fog in the Stunning Mourne Mountains

The forecast for the day was bright and sunny, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to capture some DJI Mavic Air footage of Doan Mountain. Little did I know we would face a dense forest fog. There was very little fog early on, but as I reached the Trassey area, visibility rapidly diminished. The route from the Ott car park to Doan requires a fair bit of navigation, and I didn’t fancy making my way to the summit only to find myself surrounded by thick, dense fog.

Instead, I decided to divert to Carrick Little and take a short hike to the saddle overlooking Ben Crom Reservoir. The fog was adding a strong sense of drama and atmosphere to the forests along the mountains, so I chose to embrace the conditions and capture two to three minutes of footage in the woods with the DJI Mavic Air.

Forest Fog: DJI Mavic Air Video

Flying the Mavic Air in fog and among trees presented a dual challenge. I had to keep the drone close enough to maintain line of sight, while also carefully navigating between branches. My flying is definitely improving, and I’m finding I have more time to think about composition and shot selection although that may not be immediately obvious in this particular forest fog video.

The Mavic Air camera continues to impress. I really like the video output, and once the noise is processed in one or two of the stills, the DNG files hold up remarkably well for a moving platform. The next step for me is refining gimbal control and achieving more consistent movement speed, particularly in tracking shots.

Forest Fog in the Mournes

This wasn’t my first visit to this stretch of woodland in the Mourne Mountains. The location was previously used for a Ram’s Pocket Radio video, and as you can see, there are noticeably fewer trees here now. (You can click the photos to view them at full size.)

After the brief stop in the forest, it was time to continue along Annalong Wood, running alongside Slieve Binnian. Unfortunately, neither the forest nor the mountain was really visible. I pressed on in the hope that the fog might lift, passing the Blue Lough and eventually reaching what are normally the stunning views over Ben Crom. To see those views in better conditions, check out this post (Slieve Lamagan), as zero visibility was very much the theme of the day.

By the time I arrived home, there was no drone footage of Doan Mountain and none of Ben Crom either. Despite the disappointment, there’s never a bad day in the Mourne Mountains.

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