General Notes about the creation of the photographic simulations

The morning of the balloon test was breezy. As a result, the slight breeze caused the balloon to frequently loose altitude as it was pushed out of vertical alignment by the wind. Within a half hour, the balloon's line became tangled in some trees resulting in a permanent reduction in altitude. Because we limited our simulations to what can be proved by the balloon tests, in cases where the balloon was thought to be lower than it should have been, no correction was applied, even though the resultant tower simulation might have appeared a bit shorter than it will if the actual tower is built.

The tower was scaled to the photo by extending the ground plane of each picture to the horizon and then fitting the tower image between the horizon and the actual balloon's position. This gives an approximate scale for the tower. By observing the inset photo at the upper right, you can see from the size of the antenna array vs a balloon from an earlier test that the scale turned out right. If anything, we may have slightly understated the tower.


The original (unaltered) balloon test photos are available for inspection upon request. Please e-mail to kyle@circuitwerkes.com for original pictures.
Inset of left photo - This close-up of the overlaid photo on the left shows that the tower height has been established by the balloon in the background. For the final photo, a bit of sky from the adjacent background is used to cover the balloon to finish the effect.
Step 3 - Scale the tower to the horizon and then overlay the tower on the balloon test picture. Eventually, by using cut, copy and paste, the original background details (such as trees) can be placed in front of the tower.
Step 2 - Obtain photographs of an actual balloon test for each location that you want to show. The balloon will be used to show the absolute height of the tower.
Step 1 - get a photo of a similar monopole. For this example, the tower at the Girl's Club on NW 39th Ave was used as it is about the same size and configuration as the proposed Sprint tower.

How were these pictures created and how do you know that they are acurate?




The methodology employed is very simple and easily explained in the following four pictures.