For the Photographer in You - Perspective in Images
We live in three dimensional world...actually that's up for debate, but we certainly don't live in a world with less than three dimensions and yet we persist in making a record of our lives in two. This isn't a criticism...I am a huge advocate of the two dimensional record and as you know have based my business around it! Even though we are committed to recording two dimensional images, there are still things we can do to improve the illusion of three dimensions and to help our brains fill in the gaps. In photography this is called perspective or depth.
It is the relationship between the objects in the image that gives it perspective and we have some tools that we can work with to enhance this relationship. I have outlined them below.
Lenses
Wide angle lenses increase the distance between objects in an image, creating the feeling of space amplified by the lens. We all know that the real house we visit when were looking for a new home, isn't quite as roomy as the real estate images would have you believe...this is because very often, they use a wide angle lens.
Conversely, telephoto lenses compress the distance between objects in an image and give a more crowded feel to an image. This can be a great effect even with landscape images, but it is more commonly used in portraits or sports photography.
Lines and Perspective
Take a look at some railway lines and you will notice that it appears that they are getting closer together as the distance from you increases..this of course isn't real as we know that the railway tracks must stay the same distance apart to accommodate the train. The brain is fooled into a three dimensional image when this can be incorporated in a photo.
Diminishing Perspective
This relates to the fact that things further away appear smaller than things close to you. By including object that get smaller as they get further away in images, it creates a good depth of field for our brains to interpret.
Scale
Sometimes in images, it is useful to include something to represent the size of a familiar object. Redwood trees look really impressive with a small person standing next to them to compare their size to.
Foreground Objects
Images with a lot of depth can be enhanced by including an object in the foreground. This enhances the diminishing scale of the image and creates depth.
Both of the train images below show the diminishing perspective making the end of the train look much smaller in the distance. Next time your out with your camera, try to think about these things that can enhance the three dimensional aspect of your images....and of course I'd love to see some if you want to share!
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