If you could photograph your cat from any vantage point - any vantage point at all - what would it be?

Once I've taken my P-Cat through its shake-down cruise, I'm planning to photograph the bejeebers out of it. Partly for documentation for the extinct cat photo album here, partly for myself. I like doing photography, so the decision to do this is a no-brainer.

My favorite technique is to do aerials using a camera suspended from a kite line. I've done kite aerial photograph off of the back of a power boat on several occasions, and enough people have done this off of sailboats to give me a good idea of what will be involved. (I'm going to save this one until I have someone else who can skipper the boat, though.)

But I was looking at the spinnaker pole on a Hobie, and realized you could really put a pole like that practically anywhere on a sailboat. I have a 24' pole I use for doing elevated photography over crowds. Attach a stay to the top of the mast and two more to points on the hull, rig it like a spinnaker pole poking out somewhere other than the front of the boat, and I could have a camera 24' from the boat almost anywhere.

There's going to be a learning curve to set this thing up, and I expect I'll wind up with a soggy camera at least once (probably ten or twenty times). I'll happily share what works and what doesn't in case anyone else is interested.

But just to give me a list of things to try, what angles would you like to see?

I likely won't get to play with this for another two weeks or so. I should have my boat on the water next weekend. If the weather is kind the week after that, I'll try some of these ideas out in the yard with the mast up. As soon as my wife is ready to skipper the boat, I'll try them out on the water.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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I like taking them from under water - the expression on their faces when they hit the pool is hilarious

--
Lee - On the BIG Lake in MS

Harstil Kaulua 31 - Current Project Boat
Cal 25 - What ? Time to freshen it up again??
MC Scow 16 (1 in the water and 1 parts/project) SOLD
Capri 22 - What do you mean you wont deliver it??
Chrysler Pirateer 13 - new addition to the fleet
--

I'm wincing as I say this... I have four cats in my house, and it STILL took more than one read for me to get your joke. (Now you know why I'm such a hit at parties. I'm that guy who laughs twenty seconds after the punchline.)

But honestly, underwater is a cool angle for a beach cat, too! Now I just need a housing for my camera.

Tom

--
Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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benedict

If you could photograph your cat from any vantage point - any vantage point at all - what would it be?

I like 45 degrees forward or backward from amidship. You get to see both crew and either where they have been or are going to, the heel of the boat and a fair idea of how the cat is rigged.

A shot from the lee quarter gives a good view of sail shape and slot on most any tack.

captedteach

I like taking them from under water - the expression on their faces when they hit the pool is hilarious

You made me spit out my tea!



Edited by klozhald on Apr 30, 2012 - 02:38 PM.

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Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
--

So like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tahitipix/5341698007/in/set-72157625789918644

That was done by Pierre Lesage and Heidy Baumgartner in Tahiti using a GoPro.

45 forward of admiship is tough to do with a kite unless you're flying it from a second boat. Leeward is a lot more straightforward than windward.

Tom

--
Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
--

Quote

45 forward of admiship is tough to do with a kite unless you're flying it from a second boat. Leeward is a lot more straightforward than windward.

Sorry, I mis-read. I thought you were thinking about using the pole.
Sailing photography from a kite is really interesting. Auto focus is easy but how do you frame the vid/picture?

--
Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
--

Pole, kite, handheld, coat hanger, duct tape... It's all fair game. I'm up for anything.

Windward rear quarter would probably be easiest from a pole. I need to think about how best to rig it, but here's a first pass: Mount the 24' pole to the windward spreader. Rig a topping lift (essentially) between the outer tip of the pole to the top of the mast. It'd be better if that was adjustable so the height of the camera could be changed on the fly. Rig two lines coming down to the leeward transom and the windward bow to adjust fore-aft swing of the pole. You could adjust it through a pretty good range of space.

I'd rather test this at home in the driveway before trying it in the water, though. Ideally I'd set the angle of the camera during driveway testing, and hoist the whole mess pre-set once I'm on the water. The less you have to worry about, the better. If in doubt, I'd run a coax video cable through the pole and down the mast so I could spot check with a handheld monitor. But if I could skip the monitor that would be my first choice.

For the kite, a number of people have made self-aiming rigs that work great. Almost all of them are basically a parallelogram that attaches to the kite line a hundred feet or so below the kite. You know where the kite line points (back at the boat), so aiming the camera is pretty straightforward. Once the camera rig is set up, no matter where the kite flies, the camera always points back at the boat. No monitor required for that one.

If in doubt I've got a 5.8GHz video downlink for my main kite aerial photography rig. I think it would be juggling too much stuff to use on the water, but it could be pressed into service.

Tom

--
Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
--

captedteach

I like taking them from under water - the expression on their faces when they hit the pool is hilarious

[/quote]You made me spit out my tea! Edited by klozhald on Apr 30, 2012 - 02:38 PM. [/quote]


Glad I could be of service!!



Edited by captedteach on Apr 30, 2012 - 08:15 PM.

--
Lee - On the BIG Lake in MS

Harstil Kaulua 31 - Current Project Boat
Cal 25 - What ? Time to freshen it up again??
MC Scow 16 (1 in the water and 1 parts/project) SOLD
Capri 22 - What do you mean you wont deliver it??
Chrysler Pirateer 13 - new addition to the fleet
--

captedteach

klozhald

"I like taking them from under water - the expression on their faces when they hit the pool is hilarious"

You made me spit out my tea!

Glad I could be of service!!

Thanks! The tea wasn't very good anyway.

--
Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
--