DIY PPP – Painters Pole Photograpy

PPP Painters Pole Photography GoPro HD 

That's me way down there. My camera is on a 10' pole and i'm holding it with one hand about 6 ft. off the ground. There's a rock cliff just a few feet away from me, but i'm having so much fun getting a different perspective of the Monterey bay i'm not thinking about anything else.

There's a bunch of different names for this type of photography. Common phrases would be Low Aerial, Pole Aerial, and I call it Painters Pole Photography. The most popular pole being used is the one I list Above from Amazon. It's made by Shur. This is an awesome plastic + aluminum pole that can extend from less than 3' to almost 10' with just one-click of a button. It's sturdy enough to mount my Canon 5D Mark II on top of it too! For that I have a wireless remote (not infrared) to fire off the shutter. I've modified it to use the Giottos Mini Ball Head for attaching the camera to the top and still have some tilting positions.

This was taken from a trip to Monterey for the Big Sur International Marathon ( I was supporting, not running ) just today. For this trip, I made sure to pack my Canon 5D Mark II, 100mm Macro lens, 24-70mm F/2.8, 50mm F/1.4, a 580 EX II, some wireless remotes, extra compact flash cards, and a whole bunch of other junk. Well guess what? I was having sooo much fun with the GoPro HD camera on my painters pole, I barely shot with 5DM2.

Below are a couple of snaps I took that shows the different perspective of Photography in Monterey. I simply set the GoPro to timelapse photography mode and let it snap away. I did shoot some video too, which i'll try to edit later. This is a setup I'll take with me everytime I do some hiking.

If you're using a Micro Four-Thirds type camera, a 550D / T2i, or other lightweight cameras that can be mounted to the top of a pole, this type of Photography is tons of fun. Just be prepared to get lots of attention, and get asked alot of questions. Might even be good for an overhead night club scene shooting in video mode with an LED light! Now we're talking...

Sample Video with Photos - Over Saturated in Sony Vegas

All images shot with the GoPro HD in TimeLapse Mode

8 thoughts on “DIY PPP – Painters Pole Photograpy

  1. Emm

    Post author

    @Bob - Sorry, i'll have them back online soon. When I do, i'll post an article.

  2. Bob

    Where can these adapters be purchased? The PhotographyAndCinema.com web site is down and has been for some time.

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