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Kite Aerial Photography

j cherney writes "A great combination of digital photography, kite flying, and wireless remote control. Absolutely incredible pictures. Enjoy!" We've mentioned this expensive pursuit a few times before, including a bit on how to build one of your own.

29 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. I've heard of upskirt pictures... by TheOtherAgentM · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is the new trend down blouse pictures? I like it already.

  2. Build your own webserver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    and put a camera on it so you can see when it dies. :p

    I managed to see one picture before the site died. :/

    1. Re:Build your own webserver by lewko · · Score: 4, Funny

      Stupid kite-eating webserver....

      --
      Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
  3. Hmm by g-to-the-o-to-the-g · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hmm...I forsee great business opportunities for camera repair shops.

    1. Re:Hmm by metlin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ...and lawyers ;-)

  4. Why not video? by The+Green+Skeleton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What I think would be alot cooler is if someone stuck a small wireless camera (you can pick them up for like $30 on ebay) on a kite. It would be alot lighter as those things are tiny (the heavyest part would likely be the 9v battery), and you still make stills later if you really wanted to.
    Just my 2c.

    1. Re:Why not video? by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The resolution is not good enough, I think. Since you are taking panoramic pictures with a lot of small detail, you really want high resolution or any particular ground feature will just devolve into a few fuzzy pixels. To take really good arial pictures, I would expect black and white film photography probably is by far the best (though perhaps least convenient) choice.

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    2. Re:Why not video? by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What I think would be alot cooler is if someone stuck a small wireless camera

      What about using a balloon instead of a kite with a wireless camera? It could stay up much longer with less supervision and probably provide a more stable image.

    3. Re:Why not video? by KitFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hmmm... Weather Balloon, tank of helium, good tie line, a good rig, and a clear day (Or a stormy one if you're feeling like Ben). Seems much less dangerous for the camera than a kite, honestly (Unless some neighborhood twerp has a pellet rifle).

      I also noticed that one poster was pointing out that high altitude photography sucks, and everything looks boring from a plane. Well, yeah, it does. That's because of the extreme elevation. But get something up there without being at the altitude that a plane is at, and you can get some pretty cool shots.

      --

      @Whee

  5. The kite just took some new pictures... by generationxyu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently there's a fire at the hosting company... Slashdot to the rescue! (batman theme song)

    --
    I mod down pyramid schemes in sigs.
    1. Re:The kite just took some new pictures... by servognome · · Score: 4, Funny

      POW! CLICK! DING! 503!

      --
      D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  6. Coral P2P Cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    1. Re:Coral P2P Cache by drawfour · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think that the Slashdot editors should take it upon themselves to modify all links in the submitted article to be Coral'd. Now that a method exists by which to help eliminate (or greatly reduce) the /. effect, Slashdot owes it to the websites to which it links to prevent whatever /. effect it can.

  7. Uh oh... by r00k123 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Webmaster - please contact support as soon as possible. Sooomebodyss innn troouubllleee....

  8. Re:Lacks composition by flacco · · Score: 5, Funny
    Help a poor physics student buy an iBook [strangecharm.net]!

    hey, get out there and shake your tits on a webcam like everyone else.

    --
    pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
  9. No need to break your camera by icecow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Inflate some pool rafts and kiddy pools with helium and start crafting some aerodynamics using the principals observed.

    type 'pool raft' in google and hit that 'image' tab if you want to start visualizing it.

    might be more like helium-raft-parachute photography but hey.

    --
    Stop invalid scientific research. Ask your local scientists to feed their lab rats with a phytoestrogen-free chow.
  10. Ouch! by Bill_Royle · · Score: 3, Informative

    Another example of why you shouldn't host from a dynamic connection...

    NS1.DYNAMICNAME.COM
    NS2.DYNAMICNAME.COM

    1. Re:Ouch! by Soko · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think thier ISP just pissed them off.

      "Cut off my bitorrent, will you? Fine. I'll just get this ULTRA high bandwidth, pictures galore site that's hosted on my home connection posted on Slashdot's front fucking page, Mr. No-Copyright-Infrigement-For-You-Techy-Type. Just you wait, michael won't even check where it's hosted, asshole."

      Soko

      --
      "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
  11. Cheap Way and Fun Way! by ttroutma · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Easier way to do this is to use a camera that just takes a pic every so many minutes and just tie it to a stable kite. It will dangle around randomly but it works and you get a decent picture sometimes. As to putting a wireless camera on a kite, just put a wireless camera on a really high performance stunt kite and then wear a head mounted display while you fly it around at 100mph. That would make an exciting vomit machine.

  12. This should teach us all... by perseguidor · · Score: 4, Funny

    (Reminds me of Ben Franklin!)
    This should teach us all not to expose cameras to lightning when still plugged to servers!

    --
    O make me a mask
  13. While you're at it... by mirko · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's also Photoplane which consists of putting a camera on a radio-guided plane.

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  14. Re:crashed and burned already by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Visitors - We are sorry but this site is experiencing difficulties at this time.
    Please return shortly. Thank you for your kind patience.

    Webmaster - FUCKEN PAAAANIC!!!!!

  15. (Partial) mirror by D+H+NG · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here are 4 of the kite panoramas I managed to see before the site died. The names are different from the site's because I just took them from my cache.

    Panorama 1
    Panorama 2
    Panorama 3
    Panorama 4

  16. Re:The Coral P2P Cache is too late! by Dianoga · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Perhaps all slashdot links should automatically have the nyud.net:8090 tacked on. Save everyone the trouble

    --
    In case of fire, break glass and RUN!
  17. alternate link by dirvish · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, since the mentioned site is slashdotted try this one instead for some aerial kite photography.

  18. Re:Lacks composition by Erno_Rubaiyat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pointing your camera at the ground and pressing the shutter does not a piece of art make.

    unless you happen to be minor white

    Sure you get a bunch of photos, but can you really say that you, the photographer, were the one taking the random, haphazard pictures?

    Seriously consider found art, Dada, postmodern art and other forms of high art and the answer is yes, btw did you bother to look at the pictures before ranting? I am a photographer and was taken by the composition and beauty of the pictures.

    I hate when people demean art by claiming that their homespun crap is on par with the work of true artists.

    It is impossible to demean art. I hate it when people think that art has to be made by a certain class of people to be art. And by homespun crap are you referring to folk art? If it was in a gallery you would call it art.

    I'm looking right at you, Thomas Kinkade!

    And poor Thomas Kinkade will go home and cry in his big pile of money.

  19. Stuntkite + Sony P32 by boomgopher · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Speak of the devil, I did this the other weekend using a $15 stunt kite and my digital camera, a Sony P32 (got it for only $90 at Target, so I felt it was worth the risk)
    The video on this little cam is great, 640x480 at 24fps (though it actually seems more like 15fps, some frames are doubled). With a 128M memory stick, I can get 5 minutes of video and audio. Viewing the results on TV is great, it's almost DVCam quality.

    I'd love to post the videos here (some flyovers at the beach), but my department's sysadmin would be pissed if I uploaded the 20+M mpgs. There's audio too, but it's basically wind noise, and not very interesting.

    --
    Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
    1. Re:Stuntkite + Sony P32 by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd love to post the videos here (some flyovers at the beach), but my department's sysadmin would be pissed if I uploaded the 20+M mpgs.

      It is not a good idea to post videos on Slashdot. From the Wikipedia entry on the Slashdot effect...

      Major news sites or corporate websites are typically unaffected by the Slashdot effect because they have been engineered to serve large numbers of requests. Websites that usually fall victim are smaller sites hosted on home servers or those with many large images or movie files.

      Your sysadmin would be very pissed, as well as the rest of your department.

  20. Pigeon Aerial Photography by amosl · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've been working on pigeon aerial photography. It's like KAP only you strap a camera to a pigeon. No this is not a joke. In fact the technology is about 100 years old. If you try it at home you'll find out that it's harder than it appears, but not impossible.