KAP-Panoramas

One way of taking advantage of the high viewpoint offered by the kite is to capture a mosaic of panned shots to build up the wide view.

San Francisco in Ruins, about 6 weeks after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Panoramic view from the Lawrence Captive Airship, 610 metres above San Francisco Bay. Sunset over the Golden Gate. May 1906 by George R. Lawrence.

Perhaps the most famous KAP image of all time is George R Lawrence’s 160 degree panorama of San Fransisco in ruins in 1906. The camera was specially constructed for panoramic capture using a rolling slit shutter exposing a radially mounted negative.
The image can be viewed at a good resolution on wikimedia.org

The problem with using a kite as a photographic platform is the amount of movement that has to be
accommodated in stitching.
4 methods are used to overcome the movement issue.

Use of extremely wide (fish eye) lens
High speed panning
Synchronized multi camera
360°-Camera


Stitching can be as simple as a 2 image match for a Bubble Panorama or one of a number of edge matched methods reprojected as cylinder, sphere, perspective, rectilinear.
multi image of projection types

How many images?
Fewer is better.
Using a very wide lens with a deep overlap causes stitching difficulties.

How much overlap?
It is suggested that you shoot each photo with 15 to 20% overlap. It is preferable to use a lens which doesn’t have distortion toward the edges. If you use a wide-angle lens, the edge of the image will be severely distorted, and you will have difficulty stitching the photos due to the distortion in the overlapping
sections.
Sim Hyun-Jun

Taking the shots as quickly as possible helps reduce variation in exposure and limit the amount of camera travel.

Camera aspect
A portrait mounted camera is likely to get better stitching across the horizon line

360° Bubble Panoramas
Only two images are needed to create these panoramas. I take one looking straight down from the kite using a simple rig, and a second looking straight up from the ground. Both images are shot with a circular fisheye lens that has a 180 degree view (Nikon FC-E9).
You can think of it as if each image contains a “hemisphere” of information: the image from the kite is the southern hemisphere, and the image from the ground is the northern hemisphere. When you rotate around in the image, you are viewing it from the center of a sphere that you’re inside of. The image is
projected onto the walls of the sphere; It’s like being at the center of a bubble, looking around.
First, I touch up the two initial images, fixing color balance, contrast, etc.

I stretch the sky shot vertically so that any visible ground features can be hidden behind the ground shot in the composite image. Then I use a layer mask to make the seam between the two images as discreet as possible.
Scott Haefner

Software tools for panorama building

ProgramSourceKey featureLimitationsLicensing
Hugin SourceforgeAs PT GUIBegrenzte Unterstützung FreewareFreeware    
PTGuiNew House Internet Services BVEditable mosaic preview.
Big selection of projection types.
Camera and lens parameters used.
Manual control point matching method option.
Difficult horizon stitching.€ 99
AutoPano proKolorEditable mosaic preview.
Overlap cropping option.
Manual control by line fitting option.
€ 99
AutoStitchKolorSimple interface.
Excellent edge matching.
Limited
projection
options
Freeware
Microsoft Image
Composite Editor
Microsoft Sphere or cylinder Projection choice.
Planar/Rotation movement selection.
Mosaic editing
difficult.
Freeware
PhotoshopAdobePhotomerge€ 100
Photoshop ElementsAdobePhotomerge32bit colour€ 60
GimpOpen-SourceStitch Panorama plugin requiredComplex
installation
Freeware

KAP Examples & tutorials

worldwidepanorama

James Gentles
Philippe Hurbain
Scott Haefner
Tom Benedikt
Chris Benton

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