GE 220:

PRINCIPLES OF REMOTE SENSING

Aerial Photographs and Geometric Properties.

1. AERIAL CAMERAS

• An aerial camera is also known as a metric, mapping or cartographic camera

• An aerial camera is a device used to record spatial objects and it is usually mounted
on a platform such as a tripod stand, bird, balloon, kite, or an aircraft

• For analogue cameras, the sensor is a film, while for digital cameras the sensors are
called Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) – light sensitive capacitors which are
charged proportional to the incident radiation

• These cameras are employed in the study of large areas hence they are built with
high geometric and radiance accuracy

• The cameras usually have a medium to large format, a high quality lens, a large film
magazine, a mount to hold the camera in a vertical position and a motor drive

• Therefore these devices are precision built and specifically designed to expose a
large number of films/photographs in rapid succession with the ultimate in geometric
fidelity and quality

2. AERIAL FILMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

– Types

– Aerial photo Data/Information content

• Aerial photographs are classified as: frame, continuous strip, and panoramic
photographs corresponding to the three types of cameras that may be used in an
aerial photographic coverage.

• Only frame photographs are considered here due to their predominant use in
photogrammetry.
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 • Classification of frame photographs can be made according to camera
orientation, format size, angular coverage, and type of emulsion employed. Two
main classification are covered in the subsequent sections.

2.1. CAMERA ORIENTATION (orientation of the camera axis with respect to the
ground)

• Vertical, high oblique, and low oblique:

• A vertical photograph is taken with the

optical axis of the camera held in a
vertical or nearly vertical position as
shown below.

• Tilted photographs are usually taken with the

optical axis of the camera tilted away from
the vertical position. The tilt angle is
normally less than 3o . However, due to flight
instabilities the tilt angle may exceed 3o .

• A high oblique is a photograph taken with the optical axis deliberately tilted far
enough from the vertical to show the earth’s horizon.

• A low oblique is a
photograph taken with the
camera axis strongly tilted
but not enough to show the
earth’s horizon.

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2.2. EMULSION TYPE (Light sensitive portion of an aerial photograph comprising
silver halide crystals suspended in gelatin)

• Emulsion types can be categorized into monochrome or polychrome depending

on whether the features/objects shown in the photograph are in gray shades or in
colour.

• Monochrome or B&W can be divided into three sub-categories: orthochromatic,

panchromatic, and B&W Infrared. Polychrome or Colour can be divided into two
sub-categories: conventional or normal colour and false colour or colour infrared

• However, in this lecture focus will be on BW panchromatic photograph and BW

Infrared.

2.1. Panchromatic –

 This is the most widely used type of emulsion for photogrammetric mapping and
interpretation; it is sensitive to all radiation in the visible part of the spectrum i.e.
blue, green and red (0.4 µm – 0.7 µm), but it is usually slightly sensitive to green
radiation.

 Earth surface objects/features reflecting in the visible range will be shown in

various shades of gray, ranging from white for highly reflecting ones to black for
those with no reflectance at all. Due to the emulsion's low sensitivity in green,
green vegetation or densely forest cover is not clearly discriminated.

2.2. B&W Infrared –

 This is sensitive to ultra-violet, all radiation in the visible part of the spectrum and
infrared (0.4 µm – 0.9 µm), but it has a peak sensitivity in the infrared; this film is
usually used together with a deep red filter which prevents most of the visible light
from exposing the film (thus producing clarity in features); this type of emulsion is
used to capture photographs for vegetation and water studies.

 When used to photograph an area predominated with green vegetation cover, the
chlorophyll in the leaves will cause a large amount of near-infrared radiation to
leave the tree cover and green grass, thus rendering it as a bright/white tone. In

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 the photograph, coniferous trees or drying/damaged plants will appear darker due
to reduced near-infrared reflectance.

 Water absorb almost all incoming near-infrared radiation. Therefore water

surfaces such as rivers, lakes, floodplains, water logged land and moist soil will
be shown in dark/black tones in the infrared photograph in contrast to the much
brighter vegetation.

All the film/aerial photograph types under the monochrome category have a common
structure as shown below.

The film base is a thin (40 - 100 µm) flexible, transparent material that holds the
light sensitive coating i.e. emulsion.

The protective supercoating is the material that protects the emulsion. The
emulsion comprises silver-bromide/ or silver halide crystal which are light
sensitive (see figure 3.6 in the hand out for film processing details).

The subbing layers ensure that the emulsion and the antihalation backing
adhere to the film base.

The antihalation backing absorbs light that passes through the emulsion thus
preventing reflection back to the emulsion.

3. PHOTOGRAPHIC DATA & MARGINAL INFORMATION ON PHOTOS

Two types of content is registered on aerial photographs – spatial/geographic, and non-

geographic
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3.1. Spatial:

• AP contain images of the earth’s surface features/objects shown in varying

shades of hue – gray for B&W photographs; BGR and various shades of cyan,
magenta, yellow, black, white for normal colour. Aerial photographs also called
positives are as a result of processing film.

• Film contains light sensitive crystals suspended in gelatin - a combination of silver

bromide and silver chloride – are responsible for the formation of shades (fine
crystal – better resolution, coarse crystal – poor resolution).

The creation of shades of gray goes through specific stages of exposure, latent
image formation, development, fixing, and final image generation.

Exposure: During exposure, light strikes the emulsion at varied intensities,

depending on the brightness levels in the scene.

Latent Image: After exposure, light creates a chemical reaction in the crystals
that changes only a few molecules of each grain, creating the latent image.

Development: During development, the emulsion is bathed in an alkaline

chemical that changes to metallic silver all grains modified in latent image stage.
An acid chemical, a stop bath, is added to stop the action of the developer.

Fixing: During fixing, unexposed grains are removed from the emulsion, leaving
only those that had been exposed to light during exposure.

Final Image: The final image is a negative; those areasexposedto the most
intense light during exposure are darkest; those exposed to dim light are clear.
Hence highly reflecting features would appear dark and non-reflecting ones would
appear clear. When you process the negative into a positive ( a hard copy
photograph) the tone of the features would be reversed i.e. dark in negative
would be light/white in positive and vice versa.

• Features are shown at a reduced scale i.e. there are not shown at the same size
as they are in reality

• Features with height and located far from the photo center (PP) are radialy
displaced away from the PP

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 • When two consecutive photos are viewed using stereoscopic instruments, a 3-D
view of the landscape is seen

• Non-geographic - ideally the following marginal information is registered:

• Fiducial Marks – impressions made by the camera system, found in the photo
corners and half-way along the edges, the intersection of these enable the PP of
a photograph to be determined.

• Photo Index Number – stamped on the negative after processing.

• Photo /Block Name – name of the area photographed.

• Photography Date – the date when the photograph was taken.

• Level Bubble – indicates the degree of lateral or longitudinal (pitch) tilt of the
negative when the exposure was made.

• Camera Number – this will be found recorded near the level bubble or the veder
counter; it is used by the photographer to identify the camera used on any
project.

• Focal Length of lens – indicates the distance between the lens and the focal
plane; it is used in conjunction with the flying height above ground level to
calculate the scale of the photograph or alternatively to establish the flying height
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 for the production of a specified scale of photography; it is usually recorded near
the bubble level or the veder counter.

• Veder Counter – this trips and automatically prints the number of the photograph
at the time of exposure; the number is use when editing the film for the flight
report; it is also an indicator of when the camera is due for servicing.

• Altimeter Dial – this dial is adjusted before take-off to record the height of the
aircraft above sea level at the time of exposure; it can also be used in conjunction
with the focal of the camera lens to determine the scale of the photograph.

• Chronometer Dial – this records the time of day when the exposure was made;
during photo-interpretation, this should be noted to determine the degree of
shadow that will be found on the photograph.

4. GEOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

4. 1. What is scale of the photograph?

 Scale of the photograph Indicates the relative distance between two points on the
photograph compared to the true, horizontal distance between the same points in
the terrain or on the ground.

 This relationship between photo and

ground
dimension is called the representative fraction and is expressed as 1:S or 1/S,
where S is the scale factor. What this means is that One unit length (mm, cm) on
the photograph represents S unit lengths on the ground. For instance, In a 1:50
000 scale photograph, 1 mm on the photo corresponds to 50 000 mm in the
terrain, i.e. 50 m.

 Based on the above relationship, to perform scale computation, one must know
the following two parameters and is illustrated in the figure below:

H = height above datum from which photos taken.

f = focal length of camera lens – in cm or mm

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  There is an assumption that the photo scale is constant on each format and
consecutive format. However, this may not be true due to the three reason: 1) the
terrain is not always
flat but it is
undulating or varies
in height above sea
level, 2) the flying
height may vary
between
consecutive photo
formats, and 3) tilt
may occur during
photo coverage.
The undulating
landscape is shown
in the figure.

 The following scale formulae are essential:

 Generally the following formula is used to calculate the scale of an aerial

photograph:

S = f / H’ or f / H - h

f = focal length of 152.4 mm is common

H’ = height of plane above ground

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 h = height (elevation) of ground

H = height of place above datum

 Due to the undulating terrain, on the basis of figure above, the Scale of
photograph at point P on the ground having elevation hp is equal to f / H - hp

 Since scale varies from point to point on a single photo format, all points on a
photograph are assumed to be having average elevation above mean sea level
giving an average scale formula of SAV = f / H - hav .

4.1.1 Examples of scale calculation using various methods:

• The highest, average, and lowest terrain points are 610, 460, and 310 m above
sea level respectively. Calculate the maximum scale, minimum scale, and
average scale if the flying height above mean sea level is 3000 m and the camera
focal length is 152.4 mm.

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4.2. Topographic Displacement

• The major displacement in the aerial photograph is caused by the topographic

characteristics of the landscape captured or more correctly the heights of the
features. It causes objects to appear to lean from the photo centre (Principal
Point - PP). For instance, if a tall feature in the terrain is photographed, its top
with respect to the bottom position on the photograph will be displaced radialy
outwards from the PP.

• This type of displacement enables us to view photographic images from a

stereo-pair in 3-dimensions.

• It also allows us to measure object height, especially on large scale photographs.

 On a map we see a top view

of objects in their true
relative horizontal positions.
On a photograph, areas of
terrain at the higher
elevations lie closer to the
camera and therefore
appear larger than the
corresponding areas lying at
lower elevations.

• The image of the tops of

objects appearing in a
photograph are displaced
from the images of their
bases. This distortion is
known as relief
displacement and causes any object standing above the terrain to lean away
from the principal point of a photo radially.

 Examples of relief displacement on the photographs

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 There are four factors that affect the magnitude of radial displacement - distance
of feature from PP, height of feature, elevation of feature, and height of an air plane.
The scenarios are illustrated in the following figures:

• 1) Distance of feature from the

principal point – radial displacement
increases with increasing distance
from the principal point

 2) Height of feature – radial

displacement increases as height
increases

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 • 3) Elevation of feature – radial
displacement increases as
elevation of objects increases

• 4) Height of an air plane – radial

displacement decreases as flying
height increases

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