Airborne Photographer

[Short Field]

^^^ You need more crews!!! 

Letting the crew just drop off their photos and logs is a sure path to poor photos and illegible logs.  Dumping it on mission base staff is not the answer.  AFTER the aircrew has reveiwed the photos and provided a log in whatever format needed by the customer, then the mission base staff reformat the photos and send them to the customer.  Sorry but I have see too many illegible logs with missing data and "unique" abbrievations.   

[RiverAux]

I don't think anyone is saying just drop the stuff off.  In fact, the most imporant part of having someone on base staff that knows how to do this stuff is to review that information before the aircrew leaves to make sure they have what is needed and to hold their feet to the fire if they don't.  The regular debriefer may or may not know this angle. 

[Eclipse]

The last two real missions I've flown had the customer in the aircraft with us.

In one case, I gave him a CD with his photos on it (about 250 pics) before he got out of the airplane, the other time we did it back at the FBO.  These were one-sortie "real-world" situations with very specific mission objectives and coverage areas.

I then posted a whole bunch of photos in WMIRS as soon as I got somewhere with decent internet.

I have flown way too many training missions where the base staff never even looks at the pics and/or the aircrew is never given any feedback on the mission effectiveness from the standpoint of the customer (rarely is CAP the real customer in a photo sortie).

This gets back to our people understanding that the mission is bringing usable pics back to the customer, not flying the airplane.

[Ranger75]

All  --  Thanks - I must have overlooked the AR POI when I reviewed the thread.  It will serve well as the basis for developing our own aircrew presentation.  I'm still looking for how to organize the process within the ICP.  I see it taking place within the Plans Section as an adjunct of the debriefing process.  Are there differing opinions on where this responsibility should rest, any tricks to processing the images and moving them expeditiously to the customer?    

[RiverAux]

I think it works best under Plans, but could see it legitimately being placed in different areas as well. 

Every once in a while we do have those missions where they just want a whole bunch of photos and we could get away with just giving them a few hundred and not worry about the other stuff (location, target name, etc.).  However, I think it is up to CAP to go the extra mile in those situations and show them just what we can do.  Otherwise, we aren't any better than any other yahoo with a plane and a camera.  Now, if they want to ride along and take the photos themselves, they can do that however they want. 

[Pumbaa]

I posted in another thread about "GeoTagging" images. 

I am out 2-3 times a week doing various missions....

I run a Garmin GPS and it records my location every few seconds.  I shoot a Canon 20D, generally I find my 28 to 105 mm zoom works well between 1 and 2k AGL. (I can shoot at 3k also...  I do have a 210 zoom but it is big.

After downloading the images and GPS file, I run them through software that matches time stamps and then tags the EXIF file with the Lat/ long and Alt.  I then can use google earth to map the images out.

I am playing around experimenting...
I am now working on tethering my camera to a laptop.  As I shoot the image is downloaded to the Laptop and it goes into a folder that is automatically created:  "CAP MISSION TYPE Year-Month- Day", each image is tagged the same way but also adds the image number to it.

I will also have my GPS hooked to the computer as well thus everything is running through it.  My goal is to then automate the GeoTag.  If I can get a cellphone network card I will then set it up to download reduced sized images to a secure server/ website.  This way folks at the base on the ground can also look at the images.

Overall this should be fairly easy using COTS, with little or no cost.

I have the camera tethered and working, I have the GPS reading live into the laptop too.  Next to geotag automatically.

Now there are some secrets to shooting aerials without a gyro stabilizer. 

First try not to have your body make contact with the plane.  Just your butt in the seat.  Open the window and shoot out the window but keep your lens out of the slip stream.  Arms off the window sill.. The faster the shutter speed the better.  I shoot manual settings at 1/2000 most of the time. 400 ISO.

Another trick is to add weight to your system.  Get a weight.. a car body-shop workers hammer works well.  It's a couple of lbs and fits in the palm nice.  get rid of the handle, Drill in a bolt that will fit the tripod mount on the bottom and screw the camera to it.  The extra weight will stabilize the Camera.

I find aerial photography is more of an art then a learned skill.  but then again this comes from a photographer (pro) of 30+ years.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

Now, if the powers that would realize that the D100 is now "antiquated"...

Stepping up the camera gear would be a major improvement, I'd suggest the D200, but that's now been retired for the D300, The D300 has better and faster dynamic focusing, better image compression, a more precise sensor (CMOS), monumentally faster in capturing consecutive images and writes to the card about 5 times faster than the D100...and that's just off the top of my head. I shot the D100 up until 2 years ago, shoot a D200, and I'm going to retire that to the back-up role for the D300 in the near future.

Those are nice. Many newspapers (including mine) still use a D100, though, as a backup camera to their D2s, whichever version of the 2 they use. Some of that is because of budgeting, but some of it is 'if it ain't broke.'

Unless you plan to fly short of Mach 1 about 1,000 feet over a target, you don't need a rapid-fire shutter in CAP. The 100 can fire more than fast enough for CAP aerial recon.

[desertengineer1]

The thing is that taking a picture isn't that hard and there is absolutely no reason to track it by 101 card.

Why?  Because the vast majority of problems associated with aerial photography missions do not relate to the actuall photography skills of the person doing the work.

The main problems relate to trying to use a camera that you are not familiar with and not recording photos properly.

The first problem can't be solved by an ES qual since cameras vary widely across CAP and most of the time a scanner is going to be handed a camera on the tarmac and be told to make the best of it.  They may train with an actual CAP camera, but they may or may not ever actually use it.

The second problem is really an Observer issue.  A photographer rarely has the time to record photos and the Observer needs to be doing that paperwork while the photographer is looking out the plane. 

So, I predict that this ES qual will be roundly ignored and whatever Scanner or Observer is handy will be given a camera and be told to take pictures. 

River, I'm going to have to disagree with you on the skills part.  A good photographer needs to know photo basics, in addition to some advanced knowledge specific to airborne work.  They need to know the equipment, be able to adjust settings quickly, and espesially be able to troubleshoot when required.  Operators need to be familiar with atmospheric effects, shooting angles, and how they relate to the time of day.  They also need to be comfortable with computer hardware and software.

I was lucky to have a little professional photo experiance from the college days.  Even then, I wasn't fully prepared for some of what we do.  Imagery continues to be a high priority product for us, but (until now) has remained either a "point and shoot" activity, or one that only a few "well seasoned" experts have down as a techical art.

We've needed to formalize a good training curriculum and task base for a while now, and I'm really glad to see it happen.

[desertengineer1]

I posted in another thread about "GeoTagging" images. 

I am out 2-3 times a week doing various missions....

I run a Garmin GPS and it records my location every few seconds.  I shoot a Canon 20D, generally I find my 28 to 105 mm zoom works well between 1 and 2k AGL. (I can shoot at 3k also...  I do have a 210 zoom but it is big.

After downloading the images and GPS file, I run them through software that matches time stamps and then tags the EXIF file with the Lat/ long and Alt.  I then can use google earth to map the images out.

I am playing around experimenting...
I am now working on tethering my camera to a laptop.  As I shoot the image is downloaded to the Laptop and it goes into a folder that is automatically created:  "CAP MISSION TYPE Year-Month- Day", each image is tagged the same way but also adds the image number to it.

I will also have my GPS hooked to the computer as well thus everything is running through it.  My goal is to then automate the GeoTag.  If I can get a cellphone network card I will then set it up to download reduced sized images to a secure server/ website.  This way folks at the base on the ground can also look at the images.

Overall this should be fairly easy using COTS, with little or no cost.

I have the camera tethered and working, I have the GPS reading live into the laptop too.  Next to geotag automatically.

Now there are some secrets to shooting aerials without a gyro stabilizer. 

First try not to have your body make contact with the plane.  Just your butt in the seat.  Open the window and shoot out the window but keep your lens out of the slip stream.  Arms off the window sill.. The faster the shutter speed the better.  I shoot manual settings at 1/2000 most of the time. 400 ISO.

Another trick is to add weight to your system.  Get a weight.. a car body-shop workers hammer works well.  It's a couple of lbs and fits in the palm nice.  get rid of the handle, Drill in a bolt that will fit the tripod mount on the bottom and screw the camera to it.  The extra weight will stabilize the Camera.

I find aerial photography is more of an art then a learned skill.  but then again this comes from a photographer (pro) of 30+ years.

Wow.  I am envious!

A couple of things to add from me..

1.  Don't be afraid to bracket two or three shots at different camera settings.  Depending on the sun angle, a slight under or overexposure is advantageous.  I use shutter setting to lock the exposure time, and then let the F-stop adjust accordingly.  You can bracket up or down by changing the speed, or bumping the ISO.

2.  When doing multiple missions, take a shot of the pilots on takeoff and landing with the runway in view.  Aside from the cool factor, this will mark mission milestones in the image series, really helping you when you sit down to decypher the notes.

3.  Micro$oft Picture manager is a really powerful tool post-flight.  You can export smaller sizes of JPG files for time critical email, bandwidth limited emails.  Auto image can also do wonders for images that moght otherwise be lost.

4.  Know the golden angles for the best shots, at the particular time of day.  Into the sun will give you too much haze.  90 degrees offf the sun with a polarizer can also be bad. 

5.  If you zoom, take a quick wide angle shot beforehand.  It will provide a reference to the zoomed image with roads, towns, rivers, or lakes.

Just a couple of quick thoughts...

[Frenchie]

Before they update the D100, the more pressing need is to update SDIS.  With its dial-up speeds to transfer images, its just to slow to be of much practical use.  I would think there has to be satellite technologies which are faster, but I don't know if our existing sat-phones would support such a thing.

[RiverAux]

Last I heard they've stopped paying for the cell phone service from the airplanes, so I assumed SDIS is now dead. 

[RiverAux]

2.  When doing multiple missions, take a shot of the pilots on takeoff and landing with the runway in view.  Aside from the cool factor, this will mark mission milestones in the image series, really helping you when you sit down to decypher the notes.

Between targets consider taking a photo of the GPS reading on instrument panel.  Helps keep them separate while at the same time serving as a check on your Observer's record keeping ability.

[Pumbaa]

Funny.  I was talking to one of our young engineers today.  For his engineering leadership project they designed a communications system for balloon that broke the worlds balloon (amateur) height record.  On board was GPS, and a live digital photo link and other bells and whistles.

We were discussing my idea of shooting a tethered camera and downlinking the images to a terra based server live.  Thus a ground team could view the images within moments. There is no emailing, etc.  As the image comes from the camera to the laptop, it is FTP'd to the secure terra server.  being that we would be using a highspeed link a full 8 m pixel image would download in less than a minute.

We discussed using satellite transmission (expensive), 900 MhZ (Line of sight), and then high speed cell network.  (doable).

I am working on my project now and I am going to use LINUX as the operating system to keep costs down.  One thing I am doing is going to use one of the newer small, inexpensive laptops that does not have a mechanical hard drive as I need to be aware of vibration.

I suppose I am basically working on a system.. Hopefully better than SDIS.  Again I am using all COTS and I am trying to keep it below $1000 price bogey, for the entire system, and YES that does  include the laptop and camera.

Back on topic when I am shooting missions I also shoot the airplane panel as a separator.   being that I am geotagging my images through my Garmin, there is no need to manually log each shot.  I orientate my GPS as the same direction as my camera. This way the general direction is tagged on each image.  I am also within a few degrees if I want to get real accurate.

[desertengineer1]

2.  When doing multiple missions, take a shot of the pilots on takeoff and landing with the runway in view.  Aside from the cool factor, this will mark mission milestones in the image series, really helping you when you sit down to decypher the notes.

Between targets consider taking a photo of the GPS reading on instrument panel.  Helps keep them separate while at the same time serving as a check on your Observer's record keeping ability.

Good one.  I like!

[Frenchie]

Between targets consider taking a photo of the GPS reading on instrument panel.  Helps keep them separate while at the same time serving as a check on your Observer's record keeping ability.

This is a good idea, but one problem on the G1000 is that in order to read the GPS coordinates, you have to put the MFD on the GPS page which renders the MFD worthless for anything else.  I have a portable GPS I can use for that, which should work well.

[RiverAux]

Good point, I was thinking of the other models.  But, you still can take an interior shot to serve as a break between targets. 

[exarmyguard]

any updates on the airborne photgrapher track?  I'd like to get involved with it.  How do i go about doing so?

[PHall]

There was a blurb in the latest Volunteer about a guy getting one of the first Mission Photographer ratings.
Have you checked the latest version of the 60-3?

[exarmyguard]

Yeah, I read that too.  Sounds like that course is a blast.  No, haven't read 60-3.  I'd imagine alot of people would jump on that opportunity for the training. 

[Eclipse]

Its not in there - they have started using the proposed curriculum at NESA, and my wing has taught at least one class, but until they
update the SQTRS, etc., there's no rating to "have".