Kamp-Bornhofen

Kamp-Bornhofen between the slope and the fairway

Kamp-Bornhofen follows the Rhine along a narrow bank zone. Houses and traffic routes move close together before the slope rises. This spatial narrowness is clearly visible in the overview, even if individual streets or houses appear small in the scale of the river image.

Living and transport on the Middle Rhine

In the aerial photos, Kamp-Bornhofen lies like a series of narrow stripes. Anyone who follows the fairway, the bank development and the slope separately will recognize the structure of the Rhine town.

At the river it is worth taking a second look at both edges of the picture. Sometimes a road ends there and continues along the water in the next section. In another place, a line of trees frames a stretch of bank. Such clues connect the place with its river valley. For a double page spread, you can choose an overview showing the course and juxtapose it with a close-up view of the shore. It helps if at least one bend in the bank or a building can be found in both motifs.

The slope of a landscape

It is difficult to estimate how steep a slope is from a top view alone. A street that rises in curves or the staggering of neighboring buildings gives the eye additional clues. The relief becomes even more vivid if part of the valley floor or the bank remains in the picture. Anyone who selects a recording for a location description can pay attention to this connection. It helps to understand the position of individual subjects without having to estimate height differences from the apparent distance in the image.

Connections in the larger network of paths

When describing a location, only the street itself is rarely interesting. The places where they connect something, limit an area or meet another path are revealing. In an aerial photograph, such a section can be followed into the surrounding area. A look along the route can emphasize its length, a steeper look at an intersection its shape. When making a selection for a report, it helps to ask whether the reader should follow a route or recognize a specific location.

The distribution of blue tones

Among the 5 photos in the gallery, shot 5 and shot 2 provide a good starting point for the comparison. In the first excerpt, shades of blue play a smaller role. In the second shot, blue areas take up more space. Blue can extend over a large contiguous area or only appear in individual parts. What also counts for the effect is whether these areas extend to the edge of the picture or surround the main subject.

The camera captured December 9, 2018 for shot 1 and shot 5. The time interval between these two views is less than a minute. The exposure time was 1/30 second for the first of the images mentioned and 1/50 second for the second.

Explain the course of the river in the picture

For a publication about a river, it is worth explicitly naming the bank side if it is known. The left side of the photo and the left bank of the river are two different details. The photo can look in any direction, the bank name follows the direction of flow. Anyone who describes a desired view to the aerial photographer can therefore orientate themselves on a bridge, a settlement or an easily identifiable section of the bank. The same reference points make it easier for the reader to orient themselves later when the river appears to be going in a different direction in the next shot.

Related motifs in the aerial photo archive

Two further articles invite comparison. In the first, Spay, a different detail is in the foreground. Seen from the water, the Spayer houses form a long strip in front of the slope. After that, Boppard is a good choice. In Boppard the city spreads out along the Rhine.