KAP images of Parramatta High School- How to

Kite Aerial Photography
- How is it done? -

Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) is nothing new or original. It pre-dates the invention of the aeroplane and was widespread at the turn of the century.

By far and away the best place to find out more about KAP is Charles Benton's site. This site, quite apart from displaying a wealth of fascinating material on KAP techniques and multitudes of galleries of KAP images, is an object lesson in clean and effective web page design. Have a look at it, even if only to see just how the Internet should look and work. Cris is based around the bay area of San Francisco.

For a less technical and more cerebral experience, I thoroughly recommend a stroll through Simon Harbord's pages. Simon, though a native of England, is based near Aberdeen, Scotland. Treat yourself to a visit to his site.

Another longstanding practitioner of the craft is Harald Prinzler, of Schlangen, Germany.
Harald features, among many other things, a comprehensive array of plans for soft kites.

The first few photos taken of PHS are the result of a relatively crude setup.
The camera was an Advantix© disposable - purchased because of its very small size and weight - only 45g.
The shutter was triggered with a clockwork timer designed for free-flight model aeroplanes.
Click on the image at left for a larger photo and a little more information on the technical aspects of the camera cradle and the process of taking the photos.
Complexity and sophistication increase with time. The clockwork timer, single-shot rig is still being used with good results, but now (past tense) we have a Picavet suspension supporting a three-channel radio control outfit.

The Advantix© camera shown above was only used for one roll of film, although the mount and clockwork timer served gallantly for many rolls, with another cheap single-shot camera installed.
A more recent addition to the stable is shown here.
It is a point-and-shoot 35mm camera with a homemade intervalometer. Click on the image at left for more information.

In the very best of Design and Technology traditions, the Picavet suspension was evaluated and a set of conditions established for improving it.

The (almost) complete design brief which outlines the development of the latest 3-channel KAP rig explains in detail how the shortcomings were dealt with.

More information on the kites used at this site can be found here.

What is the the relevance of this flag to kite-flying?
Click on it to find out.

Return to KAP index page.