KAP 2008-21: Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. May 2, 2008.

Images in this gallery were taken during World Wide KAP Weekend which occurred May 2-5, 2008. This event was organized by the international Kite Aerial Photography community. More information about this group can be found in the Kite Aerial Photography photo pool on Flickr as well as the KAP Discussion Forum. This was the first of 4 locations that I chose to photograph during this event (See also KAP 2008-22, KAP 2008-23, KAP 2008-24).

This session took place “over” Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, Ontario. Targets included the Aberdeen Pavilion (locally known as the Cattle Castle resulting from it’s historical role in agricultural fairs held in Ottawa), as well as Frank Clair Stadium, the Rideau Canal and skyline shots of the downtown area and the Glebe.

Here is one of my favourite aerial shots to date. It is an overhead view of the Aberdeen Pavilion (Cattle Castle) in Lansdowne Park:

One of the most photographed bridges in Ottawa, especially at night. It is the Bank Street bridge over the Rideau Canal. The camera is high over the playing field of Frank Clair Stadium.

Frank Clair Stadium and the Aberdeen Pavilion (Cattle Castle), Lansdowne Park.

View of the Glebe and downtown Ottawa skyline from high overhead the Aberdeen Pavilion in Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Rideau Canal from perspective of above the Aberdeen Pavilion at Landsdowne Park. This picture was taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography - KAP).

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-21 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

KAP 2008-20: Luskville Falls, Luskville, Québec, Canada. April 26, 2008.

These shots were taken during a field trip to Luskville Falls, Québec (near Ottawa, Ontario) with the Flickr Ottawa Group. I walked into the falls first of all and took several image of the falls (at ground level). Later I went to try some Kite Aerial Photography but I couldn’t get close to the falls due to trees. A south wind would have taken the rig somewhat closer so perhaps I will try again one day. These aerial shots are taken from beside the parking and picnic area as I was determined to take some aerial pictures that day. Unfortunately there were no significant items of interest in the area.

You can barely see the falls in the distance:

Farm near to Luskville Falls:

Parking and picnic area at Luskville Falls:

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-20 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

KAP 2008-18: Merrickville, Ontario, Canada. April 13, 2008.

Always double check your settings before launching your camera before launching it for an hour. I believed I had set the camera correctly at home before leaving but was wrong. This session was shot incorrectly at aperture f8 (aperture priority) making shutter speeds considerably slower than I would have preferred. This error resulted in a number of images with slight motion blur making them appear out of focus. They had to be discarded, particularly those when the sun disappeared behind cloud. F4 or lower would have been more appropriate.

This was a group KAP, to coincide with the California KAP weekend. Our part in trying to promote a worldwide KAP weekend and three of us got together: myself,
Matt (TheYoungsOnline)
flickr.com/photos/theyoungsonline/2411162879/
flickr.com/photos/theyoungsonline/2411166895/
and Carl (kapercarl)
flickr.com/photos/kapercarl/2413235001/

(Incidentally a Worldwide KAP Weekend did get “off the ground” several weeks later first weekend in May on which I will report later.)

Here are a few of the images harvested this session. These pictures were taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography - KAP).

Merrickville, Ontario. The Rideau Canal locks can be seen at the centre right of the picture.This is beside the Rideau River.

Ayling’s Marina, Merrickville, Ontario. This is the Rideau River.

Upstream part of the Ayling’s Marina at Merrickville, Ontario.

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-18 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

Example of a photo salvage operation

Ron’s Kap (Flickr nickname) asked me to share the details of how I salvaged this image:

This KAP (Kite Aerial Photography) session was abandoned after a few minutes due to rain. The few images I had in the camera had to be tilted, cropped and doctored somewhat.

A similar article was also placed in a discussion thread in the Flickr Kite Aerial Photography group.

I don’t profess to be a PhotoShop expert, but there are number of steps I apply to almost all my images, KAP or otherwise:

- save as a working copy file
- tilt
- crop
- levels
- saturation/lightness
- contrast/brightness
- noise reduction

Skip any steps that don’t seem to make a difference. I try to avoid going “over the top”, avoiding artificial-looking adjustments, hopefully still achieving something that under other circumstances “might” have come directly out of the camera. Tilt really only came into play seriously since I started KAP.

Here is the initial image:

FIRST I SAVED THE FILE UNDER A DIFFERENT FILE NAME AS A WORKING COPY.

Next I tilted the image about 10 degrees counterclockwise (image > rotate canvas > arbitrary > 10 CCW).
I was looking to get the tree vertical not worrying about the horizon as I already had plans to crop the horizon.

Next I used the cropping tool (from the tool bar) leaving the height and width parameters blank to give me control of the dimensions.

The rule of thirds tended to work well putting the tree and people in the top left and top right thirds respectively. This is what resulted:

Then I adjusted levels, which most photos can benefit from (layer > new adjustment layer > levels), moving the left and right sliders to the edge of the histogram. I also moved the middle slider to the right to compensate for the fact I thought the image was made too bright.This is what resulted:

Next I usually adjust saturation (layer > new adjustment layer > hue/saturation), but this image did not benefit much from this. You can adjust colours separately but usually a minor tweak with the Master adjustment by moving the saturation slider to the right is all that’s necessary. If you feel that a particular colour needs to be brought out more strongly (like red canoes or covered bridges) then change the Edit window to “reds”. Using the lightness slider here sometimes enables you to use the saturation slider more without going artificial. Play with it. Anyway, I basically had the same result after playing with saturation on this image.

Next I go to contrast (layer > new adjustment layer > brightness/contrast). I usually play with contrast before brightness. Watch out for the white parts of the image so you don’t blow out any detail in the white areas. This can make a big improvement to some images but in this case not so much. Use the contrast slider conservatively. Usually the image has brightened significantly after the “levels” step but if you still think it needs some help, play with the brightness slider. Here is my result after playing with contrast:

Since you have made a new layer at each step, you can go back to any of the steps and tweak them again. When finished you can save this as a .psd file for future editing (huge file size so I rarely save them). Then “flatten” the image layers (layer > flatten image) and save the file (.jpg) (UNDER A DIFFERENT FILE NAME if you haven’t done that as your first step).

The next thing I try to mitigate if necessary is digital noise. If it is just the sky I tend to do the correction in PhotoShop so as to not blur the details in other parts of the image. I use the wand select tool from the tool bar to select the sky areas, holding down the shift key to select additional areas. Then I use the noise filter (filter > noise > median). Try radius 2 to start with.

If the whole image needs work I use a software called “Neat Image“. There was a lot of noise in the water in this image so I used Neat Image. It also tended to iron out some of the ripples, making the image look less like “pending storm” and more “tranquil”. However, I did not use the default setting which seemed to overdo it. On the noise filter setting I set it to “remove only half the noise”. Otherwise I let the software run automatically. Here’s the end result:

I’d be grateful to hear how people do things differently as I still feel to be on a learning curve myself. I just thought I’d share what I’m currently doing to tweak my images in case anyone else feels they can benefit from trying my approach.

Please visit my website.

KAP 2008-17: Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. April 6, 2008.

Mooney’s Bay Beach and Park on the Rideau River during the spring thaw. The terrain is quite flat here and with having had very deep snow this year the area was essentially almost a metre deep in slush. It was quite the wet experience, especially when crossing the open area near the small bridges. The bridges were amongst trees, so to avoid kite line tangles I had to cross the buried streams themselves, sinking down through the slush to water level. The things we do for a photograph. These photographs were taken with Kite Aerial Photography (KAP).

Mooney’s Bay beach on the Rideau River in Ottawa, Ontario.

The park at Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa, Ontario. Across the river in line with the apartment towers is the location of the Rideau Canoe Club.

Tree and shadows in the park at Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa, Ontario.

Path and lamp post in the park at Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa, Ontario.

Overhead view of the bleachers (grandstand) at the Terry Fox multipurpose field (soccer, football, track) which is located beside the park at Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa, Ontario.

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-17 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

KAP 2008-16: Jacques-Cartier Park, Hull/Gatineau, Québec. March 29, 2008.

Jacques Cartier Park is found in Hull/Gatineau Québec at the foot of the Alexandra Bridge which crosses to the National Gallery of Canada on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River. Also at the foot of the bridge on the Quebec side is the Museum of Civilization. Jacques Cartier Park is one of a number of sites in the Ottawa area that hosts the Winterlude festivities. There is also a small marina and docks and a pier from which a number of the Ottawa River boat tour companies operate from. These pictures were taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography - KAP).

Alexandra Bridge from high over Jacques Cartier Park in Hull/Gatineau, Québec across the Ottawa River from Ottawa. The Parliament Buildings, the Chateau Laurier Hotel and the National Gallery of Canada are in the background.

A closer shot of Alexandra Bridge from high over Jacques Cartier Park in Hull/Gatineau, Québec across the Ottawa River from Ottawa.

Overhead shot of the pier at Jacques Cartier Park in Hull/Gatineau, Québec across the Ottawa River from Ottawa.

The marina docks at Jacques Cartier Park in Hull/Gatineau, Québec across the Ottawa River from Ottawa. The Macdonald-Cartier Bridge is in the background.

Overhead view of trees and shadows taken at Jacques Cartier Park in Hull/Gatineau, Québec.

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-16 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

Ottawa River Group on Flickr

Today I launched a new photo pool on flickr, with the theme “Ottawa River”.

http://flickr.com/groups/ottawariver/

The guidelines at the outset for image submission to this group are as follows:

From it’s source to it’s mouth, images that demonstrate the qualities of the river: size, ecology, beauty, uses, fauna and flora, uniqueness. The river must be the primary subject. People can be included if they are integral to the Ottawa River theme.

My hope is that members will focus on the natural aspects of the river, recognizing that people can be components in the wise and sustainable use of the resource. But the river should be the main subject.

My website.

KAP 2008-15: Deschênes Rapids on the Ottawa River near Aylmer Québec, Canada. March 23, 2008.

The Deschênes Rapids are in the Ottawa River at the community of Deschênes near Aylmer, Québec. This is directly across the river from Britannia at the yacht club and the filtration plant near Mud Lake. There are some ruins in the rapids between the Quebec shoreline and the large island. These ruins are a popular photographic spot as well as a place for whitewater kayaking (beside the ruins, not through them since there are apparently dangerous hazards including metal rebar). This KAP outing (kite aerial photography) took place from the shoreline near the ruins on the Quebec side of the river.

These are the ruins in the Deschenes Rapids near Aylmer, Quebec. This is a downstream view to the east of the Ottawa River, with some of suburban Ottawa in the background on the Ontario side of the river:

These are the Deschenes Rapids, divided by a large island and extending across to the Ontario side at Britannia Yacht Club:

Rugged shoreline in winter at Deschenes Rapids near Aylmer, Quebec. This is the Ottawa River, near Ottawa, Ontario. Self-portrait plus a piece of the kite line:

This is a view of the Ottawa River looking westwards (upstream) from high overhead the Deschenes Rapids:

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-15 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

KAP 2008-14: Nepean Sailing Club, Dick Bell Park, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. March 22, 2008.

Dick Bell Park is at the west end of the city of Ottawa near the community of Crystal Beach, just west of Andrew Hayden Park, and is home to the Nepean Sailing Club. The location used to be a larger bay (Crystal Bay) but the marina and park, as well as Andrew Hayden Park, was created with landfill. The artificial peninsula protects the marina and docks. There is a lighthouse at the end of the peninsula. A club house, parking area, and boat storage area has also been developed on the site. These photographs were taken with a camera suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography - KAP).

Nepean Sailing Club at Dick Bell Park:

Lighthouse at the point of the artificial peninsula, built to contain and protect the marina and docks:

An overhead look straight down at the lighthouse on the point:

Boats in storage for the winter at Nepean Sailing Club:

Abstract overhead view of trees and shadows at Dick Bell Park:

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-14 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.

KAP 2008-13: Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. March 16, 2008.

The goal of this outing was to take photographs the Parliament Buildings from midway across the river using Kite Aerial Photography (KAP), by launching the kite and camera equipment from the shoreline in front of the Museum of Civilization in Hull (Gatineau), Québec. The wind was unexpectedly blowing parallel to the shore instead of at right angles and consequently the views are not as “near” as anticipated. However it did provide an opportunity to photograph the Museum itself from a close angle. KAP colleague Matt Young was also KAPing at the same time. Here are a few of the images from this outing with a view from the Québec side of the Ottawa River from above the grounds of the Museum of Civilization.

Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Museum of Civilization, Hull (Gatineau), Québec.

Alexandra Bridge over the Ottawa River between Ontario and Québec.

Walking the dogs. Overhead picture of the grounds of the Museum of Civilization, Hull (Gatineau), Québec.

You can see additional pictures from my KAP 2008-13 outing in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery on my website.