Aerial shots are sweet, but lets face it, most of us don't have a plan hanging around that we can use on a whim. Well it turns out a plane is not the only way to get your camera airborne. A number of ambitious photographers are attaching their cameras to kites to get that birds-eye-view shot.

The mental image that appears when you think of kite aerial photography, or KAP, probably involves sending the cheapest camera in your house into the air, and hoping it doesn't get too smashed to recover the image when it lands.

KAP has been around since the 1880's, but changing technology has taken this from a simple science into an advanced artform. Thanks to some thrifty inventors who happen to be photo enthusiasts, KAP is now done with just about any camera with any lens you can imagine.

One man who is creating and selling these rigs is Brooks Leffler. A long time KAP enthusiast, Brooks' Web site reads  like a how to guide to the kite photography world. Interested in capturing your own shots from on-high? Brooks sells a complete kit for $290 which includes everything but the camera.

 Remote live view technology that is emerging alongside the DSLRs has the capability to change the way KAP see the aerial world. In the past, photos were taken with timers or radio control. But with a remote like the Phottix Hero or this iPhone app, you can now target your shot while the camera is aloft.

One of the forerunners in KAP is  Scott Haefner. He developed a bubble panoramas technique for KAP that allows photographers to create 360 degree images from two shots from an ultrawide fisheye lens. You can take a look at some of his work here. Scott recently gave the lowdown on KAP to a MacWorld reporter, including the details behind a great upclose shoot of Lady Liberty's face.

It's too bad the balloon boy's balloon didn't have a KAP rig attached. It would have been fun to see some balloon-eye-view shots of all the wasted time and money below.

(photos by Brooks Leffler)