Sunday, August 7, 2011

KAP = Fail : Back Cam = Success

KAP stands for Kite Aerial Photography, something I've been investigating  recently.  There is a site that explains in great detail the principles involved.  http://www.kaper.us/   Three things are needed. Wind, a kite, and a rig to hold and operate a camera.  Today, I made my second try at KAP.  My first attempt failed due to low wind but I was able to attach a camera to a kite line and make a picture or two....  from about eye level.  Today's failure convinced me that my kite is not sufficient for the task of lifting my 1 pound Canon G3.  The wind was fairly strong out of the north north east.  I have also made a crude Picavet rig to hold the camera.  Google it. I don't have a picture of mine, it's easier to understand if you see a picture.  The G3 has an intervalometer which was set to take a picture at one minute intervals.  Once again I was able to get my camera off the ground but only to about  shoulder height.  Here is a poor KAP example.

After I packed away my kite, I reset the intervalometer and slung the camera on my back and rode my bike home.  Here are two of the "back cam" shots that I consider successes. They are roughly the same angle and height as the KAP shot, and both KAP ( at the level I'm at) and "back cam" are chancey in that you only have so much control over the composition.  I like these because they have some interesting subject matter/composition and are what I would expect from "back cam".  I will have to get a bigger kite, improve my Picavet, and perhaps enlist a helper to get my KAP working right.



Friday, August 5, 2011

Having Fun With Corel Paintshop Photo Pro

My wife Lisa "rescued" this shelf from someone's garbage pile, and put it to good use in our yard.  Here's a before and after set.
 These are a few of the steps that I did in Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3 to get to the finished product.
1. hot wax effect
2. perspective adjustment to straighten it up
3. crop
4. depth of field adjustment
5.  photo effect- time machine-60's (cross process)
6.  resized for printing.

Here is the final picture.  I often save versions of a picture as I work on them in case I change my mind on what I'm doing.  This keeps me from having to start all over from the beginning.  The photo/time machine effect gives the option of adding edges.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Sheboygan Visual Artists Small Works

I'm going off the usual topic - photography, to post 3 paintings I've done for SVA's Small Works Project.
"The Water Is Wide"  inspired by the view from my friends' home on Lake Alexander.


"Beach At Dusk/Changing Light"

And finally, I reworked this canvas several times and came up with "The Hill Where My Kite First Flew".  All are painted with acrylic paint, with tissue paper over the last one.