CHAPTERS 3 AND 4: Aerial Photography
REFERENCE: Remote Sensing of the Environment John R. Jensen (2007) Second Edition Pearson Prentice Hall Camera Obscura
A portable camera obscura focused reflected light from people or landscapes through a lens (A), onto a mirror (B) and subsequently onto a clear plate of glass (C). The person then sketched the relative proportions and shape of the objects onto transparent paper. The First Photograph
The first photograph was obtained by Joseph Nicephore Niepce of his French estate courtyard in 1827. The exposure lasted 8 hours and used an emulsion of Bitumen of Judea, a kind of asphalt.
(copyright Gernsheim Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas) Camera Sensor Systems
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre
One of the first commercially available box cameras created for Louis Daguerre by Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the Morse code. Daguerreotypes
United States Capitol President Abraham Lincoln 1846 1864 Photography from Aerial Platforms • Ornithopters • Balloons • Kites • Rockets • Pigeons • Gliders • Airplanes • Satellites • Space Shuttle •Drones Man-powered Ornithopter The first known aerial photograph was obtained by Gaspard Felix Tournachon (he called himself Nadar) from a tethered balloon 1,700-ft. above Paris, France in 1858.
This is an oblique photograph obtained from the Hippodrome Balloon using a multiband camera. Balloon Intrepid
Intrepid being inflated during the Civil War battle of Fair Oaks on June 1, 1862 using Thaddeus S. C. Lowe’s portable hydrogen generating system (copyright Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Balloon Intrepid
Intrepid tethered during the Civil War battle of Fair Oaks on June 1, 1862 (copyright Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Balloon Photography
Oblique aerial photograph of downtown Boston obtained by Samuel A. King and J. W. Black from a balloon at an altitude of 1,200 ft. on October 13, 1860.
First aerial photograph taken from a captive balloon in the United States (copyright Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Pigeons In 1903, Julius Neubronner patented a breast-mounted camera for carrier pigeons that weighed only 70 grams.
A squadron of pigeons is equipped with light-weight 70- mm aerial cameras.
Exposures were made automatically at 30- second intervals.
Copyright Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany Pigeons
Oblique aerial photograph of a European castle obtained from a camera mounted on a carrier pigeon. The pigeon’s wings are visible (copyright Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany). Wright Glider
Orville Wright Wilbur Wright
Left: One of the Wright brothers in the Wright Glider at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1902 (copyright Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Curtiss AH-13
Pilot and aerial photographer with a Graflex aerial reconnaissance camera in 1915 (copyright Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). World War I Trench Warfare
Vertical photography of WW I trenches in Europe. Examination of stereoscopic photography revealed the location of men, gun emplacements, and ammunitions bunkers. B-17 Flying Fortress
US 8th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress over Berlin, Germany in World War II. Aerial photographs capture bombs from the unseen B-17 crashing through the port horizontal stabilizer (copyright Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Boeing B-29 and Photogrammetric Equipment
Getting ready to obtain aerial photography of the nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll on July 25, 1946 (copyright Smithsonian Inst., Washington, D.C.). COLD WAR PHOTO-RECONNAISSANCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE U-2
Lockheed U-2 high altitude (70,000 ft.) reconnaissance aircraft. Many U-2s are still in service as earth resource observation aircraft (copyright NASA and Lockheed Martin, Inc.). U-2 Photograph of San Cristobal, Cuba
October 14, 1962 SR-71
Lockheed SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. It can fly at >70,000 ft. above sea level and achieve airspeeds >2,000 m.p.h. (copyright Lockheed Martin, Inc.). On October 24, 1946, not long after the end of World War II and years before the Sputnik satellite opened the space age, a group of soldiers and scientists in the New Mexico desert saw something new and wonderful—the first pictures of Earth as seen from space. CORONA SATELLITE Reconnaissance (spy) imagery obtained during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s is now being declassified for earth resource analysis investigations. Lockheed F-117 Stealth Aircraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Predator
The RQ-1 Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle system. It is a Joint Forces Air Component Commander-owned theater asset for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in support of the Joint Force commander .
The RQ-1A/B Predator is a system, not just aircraft. A fully operational system consists of four aircraft (with sensors), a ground control station (GCS), a Predator Primary Satellite Link (PPSL), and 55 personnel for continuous 24 hour operations. Reconnaissance in Desert Strom in 1991
A warehouse south of Kuwait City, suspected of housing Iraqi aircraft, was bombed by coalition forces in mid-February 1991. U.S. Navy TARPS photograph by Squadron VF-84, operating from the USS ROOSEVELT (CVN-71) (Released). Reconnaissance in Afghanistan 2002 Reconnaissance in Iraqi Freedom in 2003
Bomb damage assessment photo of the Shahiyat Liquid Engine Research, Development and Testing Facility, Iraq, used by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton, U.S. Army, and Rear Adm. Thomas R Wilson, U.S. Navy, Director for Intelligence, Joint Staff (J-2) in a Pentagon press briefing on Dec. 19, 1998. DoD photo. (Released) Imagery from Inexpensive UAVs
South Padre Island, Texas Courtesy of Perry Hardin and Mark Jackson, B.Y.U. GEOMETRY OF THE VERTICAL AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH Aerial photographs can be classified according to the orientation of the camera in relation to the ground at the time of exposure. High-oblique Aerial Photography
High-Oblique Aerial High-oblique Photograph Over photograph of the Flat Terrain grand Coulee Dam in Washington in 1940
field of view
Horizon is shown in the Optical photograph axis
Low-oblique Aerial Photography
Low-Oblique Aerial Photograph Over Flat Terrain
field of view
Optical axis Horizon is not shown in photograph
Low-oblique photograph of a bridge on the Congaree River near Columbia, SC. Vertical Aerial Photography
Vertical Aerial Photograph Over Camera Level Terrain film plane
Goosenec ks of the
Altitude San Juan above-ground- field River level (AGL) of view in Utah
Optical axis
Principal point (PP) ° AERIAL CAMERAS
1. Metric Cameras (cartographic cameras) 2. Reconnaissance Cameras 3. Strip Cameras 4. Panoramic Cameras Box Camera
One of the first commercially available box cameras created for Louis Daguerre by Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the Morse code. Eye Comparison of Lens the Optical Components of Object Image
Retina Retina the Simple Retina Camera with Iris those of the Human Eye Camera Between- the-lens shutter Lens
Image Object Film Plane Film Plane
Roll of film Aperture
Focal Length f / 8 f / 11 The f/stops for a Camera Lens f / 5.6 f / 16 and the Size of the Aperture f / 4 f / 22 Openings
f / 2.8 4 @ f/ 5.6 f / 2.8
f / stop 2.8 485.6 11 16 22 f = 80 mm
Lens Photogrammetric Aerial Frame Camera Profile View Platen vacuum film of A Metric Take-up Unexposed Film reel flattener film reel Magazine Camera and Film System Components Camera Optical Focal plane Body axis Focal length,f Lens Cone Assembly
Lens rear nodal point Lens Shutter Diaphragm Lens front Filter nodal point Photogram metric Aerial Frame Camera Two Frame Cameras Mounted in the Fuselage of a Plane Aerial Camera Lens Angle-of-View
2,000ft
1,000ft
a. b.
Different angle of view Different altitude Annotation on the Perimeter of An Aerial Photograph
1. Grayscale 4. Fiducial marks 7. Focal length 10. Navigation Data 2. Notepad 5. Clock 8. Frame Number 3. Altimeter 6. Lens cone Serial # 9. Mission Name & Date Four 70-mm Hasselblad Cameras Arranged to Obtain Multiband Aerial Photography Four 70-mm Hasselblad Century City, Los Cameras Arranged to Obtain Angeles Multiband Vertical Aerial Photography
Near-infrared (0.7 – 1.0m)
Red (0.6 – 0.7 m)
Green (0.5 – 0.6 m)
Blue (0.4 – 0.5 m) Analog and Digital Cameras
Hasselblad 70-mm Kodak DCS 420 Digital camera Camera with a Nikon camera lens and body AERIAL FILMS
1. Black and White 2. Color Reversal (like Slides) 3. Normal Color 4. Color Infrared Sir Isaac Newton’s Experiment in 1666
Sir Isaac Newton discovered that white light could be dispersed into its spectral components by passing it through a prism White Light Separated into its Spectral Components Using a Prism
White Light Separated 1.2 m into its Spectral Components Using a Prism
ed ar 0.7 m fr -in ar Ne 0.6 m d Re Region Region
en 0.5 m Visible re Visible G Photographic lue Photographic B 0.4 m ght ite li Ultraviolet Wh 0.3 m
Prism Color Theory
Additive Color Subtractive Color Equal proportions of blue, green, and red Equal proportions of blue, green, and red light superimposed on top of one another pigments yield a black surface. created white light. The complementary colors are: Yellow Pigment = absorbs all blue Yellow = red + green Magenta Pigment = absorbs all green Magenta = blue + red Cyan Pigment = absorbs all red Cyan = blue + green Reflection and Transmission Transmission Characteristics of Selected Kodak Wratten Filters Transmission Characteristics of Selected Kodak Wratten Filters Polarized Light Sensitivity of Selected Black & White Films and Printing Paper
Printing paper Panchromatic film Infrared film
HF3 filter Log Sensitivity UV Blue Green Red Reflective infrared 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 Wavelength, m Panchromatic
Black and White Infrared Spectral Sensitivity of the Three Layers of Normal Color Film
Yellow dye layer (controls blue light on the image) HF3 Magenta dye layer (controls green light on the image) filter Cyan dye layer (controls red light on the image)
Spectral Log Sensitivity Log Sensitivity Sensitivity
UV Blue Green Red Reflective infrared a. of Normal 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 Wavelength, m
Spectral Sensitivity of the Three Layers of Color-Infrared Film Color and
Wratten 12 Yellow dye layer (controls green light on the image) Color- Yellow filter Magenta dye layer (controls red light on the image) Infrared
Cyan dye layer (controls near- infrared light on the image) Film Log Sensitivity Log Sensitivity
UV Blue Green Red Reflective infrared b. 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 Wavelength, m Aerial Color Photography
Normal Color False-color Infrared Using Wratten #12 filter Terrestrial Color Photography
Normal Color False-color Infrared Using Wratten #12 filter
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY TO DETERMINE TEMPORAL CHANGES
La Parguera in 1936
La Parguera in the 80's
Cirrus Digital Camera System (DCS) August 19, 2004