AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 251, 16 February 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY.

WAR TIM I'M PH.S A\D PEACE

PROSPECTS

There l is no mistake about the value o' photography from the air, for it has n, w been tested so often during the war 'ii other ways. Photographs exist cf German trendies before and iutcr bcmbnrdinont, and the iesults obtained ara striking indeed. O.ung to the reccrds obtained by photography from ucroplanes the generals directing the operations on the various fronts have obtained much valuable data and infcmotion whLeti would otherwise have I." en s a led to them. In tho casualties which an offensive involves, owing to tl.e accurate mapping of the country and by aid £.f the camera indicating exactly what lay before them, the proportion of slight wounds i« very high as compared av ith the heavy casualties, thus showing that a moms has now been devised of finding and dealing with tha enemy's artillery, whose presence a'cl position has been dcvtected by hidden eyes overhead. It is a. strange fact that some of the best of these photograph have been obtained 0:1 dismal, r.iny days. Moisture in the air appears to aid aerial photography in the fact tn'at it prevents tho dust particles from rrilect-ing the sunlight. At a height of lour thousand foot the opposite effect is observable, especially on a clear and eh tulle ss day. The general consensus of expert opinion is that the flying midline i st-ho most usoful weapon to glean information o fthe movements of at? enemy, and by neatiscf phot to obtain an exact idea of his defences, pioviding certain observed facts are taken into r.cronnt. At i-e.rt.iin altitudes plato after plate may be exposed and ii(tliing will be revealed, yet at a slightly lower piano tho plates c-xposwl will show that perfectly sharp and cleat, well-defined results have been obtain© 1 Seeing that the photographic eye is keener and more searching than tho heman eye the amazing results often obtained by the airman aro incalculably useful in the prosecution of a campaign. Battery after battery has Isoen located in this way and the exact -pots recorded, and then, at the given moment, when the artillery has spoken, the enemy's de'ences have (rumbled avvpy. THE BIRD'S-EYE VIEW. Although the aeroplane nny travel rapidly. it is not too flrft for the observer who is skilled in his peculiai ,work and who is able to ghnge t. ings t;> a nicety. Undulat-'ng flight- will e.ia'llo him to speedily determine the altitude and distance from which he is enailed to obtain the clearest views of th> country and the objects bene.at-h him. Owing to his speed he is able to comP {-to hi-' task in far less time than thesj using the dirigible for this purpose, with the result that the information obtained is placed at the disposal of his superior officers with greater celerity, and is thus often of greater value. Taking pictures frcm an aeroplane is perhaps the easiest of all kinds of photography, for the difficult quost'ons of choice and treatment of subject disappear as if by magic. All that is really necessary is to master the ene simpledetail of the exposure re-quired under varying circumstances, .and the job can be entered upon. Pictures giving sharp definition are capable of being secured with a very simple camr.a if the shutt t will work at two-hundredth p.irt of a second. Pictures secured are capiUle of being enlarged, and this is si often done that it lias now become quite a commonplace operation. When we are looking down cn the ea-th from a high altitude the landscape does not showlight ?nd shade effects in marked groups the same as it does below. Everything appears quite flat, ar.d the shadows cf trees, houses, and other buildings are only verv small features in the £i eat expanse below. Over-expesure has ti be guarded against, especially when the sun isi powerful. Filers si 011 the most suitable recording medium because they are unbreakable. They aro put up cither in the roll or in flat form, and ;-.n exposed film is easily- changed for a fresh one by a very simple movement. The box torm of camera to be e.sed by ban die quite right. Of course, certain special cameras have* now been designed expressly for us© en aeroplanes. In these"the working operations are made as simple a>s possible. SPOTTING THE GC>^. 1 It may happen that gurs have been carefully concealed, and they are therefore invisible from above unless they are seen firing. A specially troublesome battery was picked cut by aid of a camera from n.hove, and its location recorded 011 a plate by a good of leek. An aiimnn -flying overhead on a m'stv day at a groat height d<v:d«l to fy to find out the location of this battery. He did it. bv drnpp : ng down <j,rickly from above just a .short distance away from where tho battery was thought to l e. The observer w. ; s quite lcady and loosed off several p'.ttes-when next the guns began to speak, and by this means its exact site w;is recorded. When thee plates we 0 d "eloped and found to be satisfactory, the exact spot was located by squaring up, and ov. ntually guns were trained system ti ally «.n tie point, and the whole con rn wiie l 0 t of existence entirely. \VY>k of t' is k:nd is always carried o :.t v.i:h a certain amount of discomfort,, and there is some risk of having it- 'pparatus knocko dto pieces, but tho ebairr. of aeccmplishiug 11-oful work i: ; .'I ways present and acts us an in**nth> I eyond measure. The wo;k of r ttinn n is oh-ovo all praise, and we s'ia'l doubt in tni:o lo able to see and juige ourselves of their effort--. The familiar click of the sh 1 n r» r wdr-h t! « photopapher usually list n* for, is -s-.a'h drowned by the noi-e of the n.ir. end tie muse and the vibrate r, of the engine is always a disturbing 0 but practice makes perfect, ..t;cl th p< culi 1 r photographic condition- h re il'.tle effect on the general re- :'!') uie « all t! ingfc are taken into cons' Vr.>t : :.. Ti 0 fog ( f war lies over everything •>': present, I mi t the detailed ii:f": nn.it:..n collected and recorde d by the svo* (•:' the si' ie-: is invnliatblo, aa<' • < ;> • -!"- the movements of the <n>:uy ti ! " itr.i'ipat.'d often iicnigh. The rrn-aiivrift gin seems like'y to int"rfe i- htiisly v :t!i lira work el the p!>ot >ir i in t <> air, bur for all tha' • . liter w 11 I r<-in time to t im'• '< -,>• g!. <t: -.i. fo: t' e neroplane, ;md the '*• p' : rsi.lts obtained ther=bv, ha-, je. • 1 -o j i>a one c f the great'si, -•:: j 1 a i!« • j hi' i _cul<- for .s!ipi'< ni3"y, I:..- ••e; i». j latieni-ed the glim gniio :;f v.':-. All? Torßf^'l. TI-o -ensib'e tnan of ' •«! >v r-a.-allv i-'iiows a good thing v.!. -n !-.•» if. and as on a-> things ■! >aa • - ailed I: raav bo tin ■ 1 "d ta 1 -hi- :a,i.-ii ue 1 for < ni.n 11 ent prrj.V-'f -t 1 - r t!:au i-o I. ave homo »»i-l S'il - >• thly ' hv aeroplane to ■ orn ■< ■! ea > n ! ! pi otograph from aloft. '1 • v !■■■' s bit. ' v.l i.-h -.ti i' e Irs f:,nc,- is ! " j - ■ 11 >n;-. The rossiiblity limine". D-aiking 11 iir whi(-h is f-.- ■ F - t 1 n ,!■:-( "t llio orad-. i- like a • :• h ' j.V (if I voi" with it-, iVevbue- , r hi '. f r-.be>"- I < x 1 i'arat i> n is sia h as >, . 1 ! ,r » ..-•v»r i 1 i"">' b> d I <• f>• ' 0. Ih>s il; , >f 1 I- ip 1 !■:>■ iiils a'eoi*d il) many iliu;'r> ■< 1 • ■ ei .d-

h als and some cf thorn are quik> worth vhilo. This in t!io future is quite likey to become a factor in our daily lives, especially when speed and easy-going aro considered. The purely scientific n Milts will no doubt add their contribution* to the progress of the nations, end we shall so© opened up to us the real country as viewed from a totally distinct attiude. What a charm comes horn the idea of being eventually able to explore the hanks en our maps and make records for ourselves of things seen there. Touring the kingdom and piling up a new series of pictorial records will be ail the rage. At the presmt time there are ideal aeroplanes constructed, by which tho man of nerve may tour and photograph from the air, a> easily as he would from a car in the road. The rapid changes alone, as iho landscape untoids- Le.ow you, are n ally telling by contrast. Flying is I (ing made safer ever day and other tilings are developing in proportion. A NEW SPORT. As a sport, aviation is increasing m I < {Hilarity every day, and in the same way those who practise photography by its'aid aro finding out frish opportunities and fresh lines of work to be going on with. The new line of pictures fo, the future will be made from above ground. Ahead we have quite a lot talit have hpen made by aid cf balloons even before tho war, but the new" crake goes beyond that, and reaches out further afield. Tho airman is no long<?i chained to the earth by adverse* winds, For tho scientific factors of safety are new better calculated, and wjth wellbi.ilt craft that will resis a strain main times greater than it has nominally to hear, and well-adapted cameras and plates, what is there to fear? AVe may go ahead and try for results. What is more delightful and what has greater charm of novelty than a summer tour by flying machine, pasing from point ta pint w esahti net cmfwy emfw a point to po : nt with case, and enjoyin point with ease, and enjoying alt the 1 leasures obtainable from a combina. tic.n of the two elements of sea and 1 sky, and also the addition of pictorial records of tho tour as seen from above? In the hands of the right sort of men (an dthey aro now rapidlv being developed day by day)—the nun who are sportsmen, the men who enter the game for the sake of the adventure aid the new experience, and who.think that everything is worth while, the records of such journeys as these cannot but be not only interesting but also he/pfiil an duseful. Free from, earth, and a] lits difficulties and obstruction*, th, noise an dthe traffic of the road?, a.nl free from annoying limitations of work and choice of subject, the aerial photographer wings his way along and exposes his plates where lie wills. Many good pictures have already been obtained according to all accounts, but really the time for their production is not yot. We wait and see. The panorama which is spread below and' upon ether hand is large! yunrecorded on a large scale as yet, but it will come. Ordinary discretion, activity, and nerves s'.re all that are required, and there is n freedom to be attained -along the aerial highway which ha« not been dreamt of before. It is even now common to see the equipped photographer j in tho illustrations of the start of fly- | ing men which are published from time ' 1 . time, and Hi the future it will no | doubt be the thing to follow. At first, j and oven until recently, th e aeroplane wa. regarded more from the light of a weapon of war than that of a photographic mc'iium, but now both its sporting and its pleasure aspects are becoming more and more known, and as a medium of picture-making it is i niiii jiissablo. What its future work in tl is way will bee, time alone will show. GENERAL RESULTS. The aerial observation officer must b • highly trained, cf course, but sufficient hi s already been said to show that objects terrestrial appear so unfamiliar J from above that it is only by long prnc-ti'-o that the best and mest useful re- I suits can he obtained from a military i standpoint. War tends more and more in tho direction oi a game of chess, and i if. is by recording and noting all tho | moves of your opponent that check * \ able to be made. Move* are made for I pmtion. and failure to obtain those j may act as a decisive factor. If photographic records are acquired, we have the groundwork fully set out before im, ar.d know exactly the position cf things, and can work in accordance therewith Tho captive balloon has ben used, and tho dirigible, and resells obtained from cadi.' Clearly the i tniquest of the air means the evolution j c fa type of man who will eventually I to for more highly educated and more i finely organised than th:> world has yet j foen. Wisely used, the aeroplane will j fxpodite geographical and pictorial ex- j ploratinon, o.nd save n any lives* for '■ (d.otographs can easily be taken while j (lying over inaccessible or very difficult i regions which one usually had to work i iv Pictures taken from a height of : 3t)M or 4000 feet often include too! much ui tho view. Objects seen fairly I clear!;, with the naked eye are often in- i visible on tho film: massed troops and ! baggage trains can easily be seen in a j photograph, 'but it is not often that i thi'so are really useful from a military i p: int rtf v'ew. For special work in : aeroplanes a camera with a telephotn ' lens shows that pictures can be taken ! from a, good height giving a great deal more detail, ebcaiise le-s of the land- i scapo is included.