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Additional Techniques for Improving Photography on Stratospheric Balloon Flights

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Abstract

Techniques to improve photography on stratospheric balloon missions are of significant interest to the high-altitude ballooning community, as evidenced by the ongoing number of downloads of a paper about stabilization of camera payloads which the xxx ballooning team presented at AHAC 2015. This current paper provides suggestions for mounting and powering cameras (sometimes in counterintuitive ways) for 2-to-3-hour ballooning missions, as well as additional ideas for stabilizing camera payloads based on our team’s experiences since 2015. Of particular note are passive anti-rotation devices used during eclipse flights in 2017 and, more recently, studying the impact on rotation when cameras are on stacks that are intentionally “floated” (neither ascending nor descending) in the stratosphere. Live video streams from payloads hanging from “big” balloons – zero pressure and super pressure balloons with volumes that can exceed 10 million cubic feet carrying payloads in excess of1000 pounds – suggest that it is possible to achieve fairly-stable conditions,at least on massive ballooning systems. Active pointing and motion compensation even allow for the operation of telescopes and for time-exposure photography on such “big” ballooning missions. However, stabilizing payloads carried by significantly-smaller balloons, such as latex weather balloons, is particularly challenging since smaller balloon systems are more susceptible to wind-induced motion, including downward “relative wind” and balloon wake turbulence experienced by payloads during ascent. We have found that payload stacks on weather balloon missions can also become very quiet during float, even without the use of explicit anti-rotation techniques. This observation may be of particular interest to balloonists planning to participate in eclipse ballooning in 2023 and/or 2024where “you’ve got to get it right the first time” (since eclipses are both short in duration and rare) and high-quality photography is of the essence.

Keywords: stratospheric ballooning, payload stabilization, camera stabilization, photography

How to Cite:

Flaten, J., (2023) “Additional Techniques for Improving Photography on Stratospheric Balloon Flights”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2022(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.15665