Member Profiles
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Greetings from Alberta
Aerial photography, or perhaps aerial cartography, has been an interest of mine for a decade, but my focus was on R/C planes and multirotors until recently. Taking visually stunning photos is a secondary goal, but my primary goal is satellite-like downward photos that can be stitched together into maps. The potential and advantages of a kite-based photography platform hadn't occurred to me until I stumbled across an article in Make magazine on PublicLabs' work in kite- and balloon-mapping.
A couple of inexpensive kites (a G-Kites Dazzle Delta and Hi Sky Delta) were obtained a few weeks ago. I constructed a simple pivacet, camera rig, and line winder while waiting for 1000-feet of 120 pound Dacron line. The line arrived six days ago and I've been out every evening since. Most definitely, I am an addict.
For map-making high altitude is especially useful. I will be buying another 1000-feet of line in the near future. A gimbal probably isn't far off either as having as many useable photos as possible is a huge advantage.
But I joined the forum to get the basics of kiting down. For example, I was surprised to read, and see in a couple of Youtube videos, that many folk don't reel in their kites using a winder. Instead, they were manipulating the line by hand or using a caribiner and a loop of webbing to walk their kites down. Properly using anchors is also something I need to master. How does one properly connect the kite-line to the anchor?
Pointers to discussions or videos which cover the basics of safely flying a kite would be welcome at this point. The same for any nuggets of advice that might prevent a kite-newbie making an embarrassing mistake.
A couple of inexpensive kites (a G-Kites Dazzle Delta and Hi Sky Delta) were obtained a few weeks ago. I constructed a simple pivacet, camera rig, and line winder while waiting for 1000-feet of 120 pound Dacron line. The line arrived six days ago and I've been out every evening since. Most definitely, I am an addict.
For map-making high altitude is especially useful. I will be buying another 1000-feet of line in the near future. A gimbal probably isn't far off either as having as many useable photos as possible is a huge advantage.
But I joined the forum to get the basics of kiting down. For example, I was surprised to read, and see in a couple of Youtube videos, that many folk don't reel in their kites using a winder. Instead, they were manipulating the line by hand or using a caribiner and a loop of webbing to walk their kites down. Properly using anchors is also something I need to master. How does one properly connect the kite-line to the anchor?
Pointers to discussions or videos which cover the basics of safely flying a kite would be welcome at this point. The same for any nuggets of advice that might prevent a kite-newbie making an embarrassing mistake.
Comments
Welcome to the KAP forum.
You will find a wealth of information on this forum and on the link to the older forum. Both have good search functions.
From your description above it looks like you are well on your way.
A few links that I would recommend to get you started.
- Safety
- Stratospool winders
- more Stratospool
- Instructional Video - Kite Aerial Photography
Enjoy the kite flying (and taking pictures ;-)
WW
The safety link is welcome. Plenty of food for thought as I contemplate putting 2000 feet of line into the sky.
The Stratospool has my complete attention. I actually watched one of Andrew Newton's videos yesterday evening and had my "Aha!" moment. Today has been the first day since Tuesday that my right shoulder and forearm (I'm a leftie) weren't sore from rolling in kite line and that's only because we had 60 km/h winds (with gusts to 90 km/h) from late Friday evening until late last night, making flight out of the question. A Stratospool inspired spool is in my future.
Lots of study to do here. Thanks a bunch.
See the YouTube video below for the basic functions.
Enjoy,
WW