Every time you look at a photo whether it be in print or on a screen, it goes without saying that what you are looking at is a 2D representation of a 3D scene. The two dimensional picture is an illusion and your mind deciphers the information to get a sense of the 'depth'. Photographers use the concept of perspective to resemble a sense of depth and scale in photos.
Defining Perspective
In photography, perspective is defined as the sense of spatial relationships between things and their dimensions in relation to the position of the viewer, producing a sense of depth. Here are our top ten tips on how to use perspective.
1. Blocking Subjects Partially
It is an obvious statement, but when one object is partially obstructing your view of something else, your mind tells you that the partially hidden object is further away than the object obstructing it.
By relating their sizes we can perceive the depth. We call this overlap perspective.
2. Relative size
As an object gets smaller, our minds decipher this to let us know that the object is a distance away from the spot where the photo was taken. Our brain already knows rough sizes of familiar objects, such as people, vehicles, buildings and trees, so when we see a person who is three times taller than a car, our brain tells us that the person is much closer to us than the other object is. Our brain works this out based on familiar objects compared with other objects in the picture to get an idea of the distance and depths of relative objects. This is what we call scaling.
We can use some interesting photography techniques by placing several objects at various distances from the viewpoint and give the illusion that they are on the same plane. You can get some peculiar images.
Having a single familiar object in a picture enables us to work out the sizes of other things in the frame in relation to that one familiar object. Think about how many pictures you have seen of people holding a fish they caught smiling at the camera. They do this so that you can see how large the fish is in comparison the people. Think about a photo of a man standing among some huge leaves in the jungle, which are bigger than he is. This will shock your mind because we we are used to seeing leaves that are smaller than our hands.
3. The Vanishing Point
The human eye judges depth by the way lines and planes converge at a point inside or outside of the picture. This is known as linear perspective.
Fish eye lenses create photos of objects that look a lot smaller at the edges of the picture than they would appear in reality. On the other hand, the objects in the middle of these shots look significantly bigger than they would in real life.
Parallel lines seen at a large distance appear to be meeting each other at a distance far away, which is what we call vanishing point. You see this all the time in photography. Think of a photo of railway tracks converging at some point far away close to the horizon.
4. The Lens Axis Level
Horizontal lines moving across the lens axis level appear to be straight, and all other horizontal lines above and below this level appear as curved lines. In reality, we perceive all lines as being straight, whether they are on, above or below the lens axis level. Rectilinear lenses also reproduce lines as being straight.
5. Perspective Projection Distortion
All pictures could be subject to perspective projection distortion. This is when we use panoramic and fish eye lenses to deliberately produce warped perspectives to create interesting effects.
6. Reduced Sharpness, Definition and Quality of Colour
Due to reduced contrast, scattering of light and other factors, our eyes cannot define objects in the distance as easily.Objects further away are harder to define because of light scattering and reduced contrast as well as other factors. Knowing this allows our brains to make more sense of distance. In photography, we can take this knowledge and use it to our advantage to create pictures where objects far away appear to have less definition and contrast. We do this by controlling the depth of field. An easy way to do this is by focusing the camera lens a little less than infinity to make the objects furthest away look out of focus. This is what gives the viewer a sense of distance and depth.
Our brains make us believe that when see these blurred, less colourful objects we are looking at something further away than the brighter, vibrant objects closer to the foreground.
Prior to taking a shot, you should decide whether you are trying to emphasize the depth of the scene or not.
7. Focus And Depth Of Field
By adjusting the F-stop value of the aperture, the focus distance and the focal length, we are able to control the depth of field. The depth of field (DoF) defines an area where objects are in focus in the picture. Anything closer to the viewpoint than this area, or further away than it will be blurred. A common mistake of beginner photographers is to try to get everything in the picture to appear sharp. They tend to user smaller apertures to maximize the depth of field. This can sometimes work well, but it is generally not seen as something more seasoned photographers like to do.
8. Object Isolation
If you separate an object from its environment using various techniques you can create some interesting effects. You could do this with a wide lens, which will divide the scene into different layers. Sometimes you will find that the background is unappealing. You can often resolve this by using a very small depth of field so that all objects behind the main object are out of focus. These objects now seem less important in the photo.
9. Compression
One of the most overused types of lenses in photography is the wide angle lens, which makes pretty bland-looking perspectives lacking in definition. The depth from a wide angle lens compresses the scene. It is far better to use a medium tele lens, because it is capable of emphasizing depth.
10. Layers
If you like taking shots of mountains and other landscapes, a great approach is to use the notion of layers. These mountains are usually the dominating feature of a photo. You can make your pictures much more interesting by using addition layers in the foreground and the centre.
If you're taking a photo of a scene which doesn't have trees, cars or other familiar objects, such as a desert, you have nothing to show the size of objects in the shot. In this instance, you might wait until someone comes walking past to get a shot, or ask your buddy to stand in the frame.
Thank you for reading and don't forget to make use of some of the points I made next time you are shooting.
Defining Perspective
In photography, perspective is defined as the sense of spatial relationships between things and their dimensions in relation to the position of the viewer, producing a sense of depth. Here are our top ten tips on how to use perspective.
1. Blocking Subjects Partially
It is an obvious statement, but when one object is partially obstructing your view of something else, your mind tells you that the partially hidden object is further away than the object obstructing it.
By relating their sizes we can perceive the depth. We call this overlap perspective.
2. Relative size
As an object gets smaller, our minds decipher this to let us know that the object is a distance away from the spot where the photo was taken. Our brain already knows rough sizes of familiar objects, such as people, vehicles, buildings and trees, so when we see a person who is three times taller than a car, our brain tells us that the person is much closer to us than the other object is. Our brain works this out based on familiar objects compared with other objects in the picture to get an idea of the distance and depths of relative objects. This is what we call scaling.
We can use some interesting photography techniques by placing several objects at various distances from the viewpoint and give the illusion that they are on the same plane. You can get some peculiar images.
Having a single familiar object in a picture enables us to work out the sizes of other things in the frame in relation to that one familiar object. Think about how many pictures you have seen of people holding a fish they caught smiling at the camera. They do this so that you can see how large the fish is in comparison the people. Think about a photo of a man standing among some huge leaves in the jungle, which are bigger than he is. This will shock your mind because we we are used to seeing leaves that are smaller than our hands.
3. The Vanishing Point
The human eye judges depth by the way lines and planes converge at a point inside or outside of the picture. This is known as linear perspective.
Fish eye lenses create photos of objects that look a lot smaller at the edges of the picture than they would appear in reality. On the other hand, the objects in the middle of these shots look significantly bigger than they would in real life.
Parallel lines seen at a large distance appear to be meeting each other at a distance far away, which is what we call vanishing point. You see this all the time in photography. Think of a photo of railway tracks converging at some point far away close to the horizon.
4. The Lens Axis Level
Horizontal lines moving across the lens axis level appear to be straight, and all other horizontal lines above and below this level appear as curved lines. In reality, we perceive all lines as being straight, whether they are on, above or below the lens axis level. Rectilinear lenses also reproduce lines as being straight.
5. Perspective Projection Distortion
All pictures could be subject to perspective projection distortion. This is when we use panoramic and fish eye lenses to deliberately produce warped perspectives to create interesting effects.
6. Reduced Sharpness, Definition and Quality of Colour
Due to reduced contrast, scattering of light and other factors, our eyes cannot define objects in the distance as easily.Objects further away are harder to define because of light scattering and reduced contrast as well as other factors. Knowing this allows our brains to make more sense of distance. In photography, we can take this knowledge and use it to our advantage to create pictures where objects far away appear to have less definition and contrast. We do this by controlling the depth of field. An easy way to do this is by focusing the camera lens a little less than infinity to make the objects furthest away look out of focus. This is what gives the viewer a sense of distance and depth.
Our brains make us believe that when see these blurred, less colourful objects we are looking at something further away than the brighter, vibrant objects closer to the foreground.
Prior to taking a shot, you should decide whether you are trying to emphasize the depth of the scene or not.
7. Focus And Depth Of Field
By adjusting the F-stop value of the aperture, the focus distance and the focal length, we are able to control the depth of field. The depth of field (DoF) defines an area where objects are in focus in the picture. Anything closer to the viewpoint than this area, or further away than it will be blurred. A common mistake of beginner photographers is to try to get everything in the picture to appear sharp. They tend to user smaller apertures to maximize the depth of field. This can sometimes work well, but it is generally not seen as something more seasoned photographers like to do.
8. Object Isolation
If you separate an object from its environment using various techniques you can create some interesting effects. You could do this with a wide lens, which will divide the scene into different layers. Sometimes you will find that the background is unappealing. You can often resolve this by using a very small depth of field so that all objects behind the main object are out of focus. These objects now seem less important in the photo.
9. Compression
One of the most overused types of lenses in photography is the wide angle lens, which makes pretty bland-looking perspectives lacking in definition. The depth from a wide angle lens compresses the scene. It is far better to use a medium tele lens, because it is capable of emphasizing depth.
10. Layers
If you like taking shots of mountains and other landscapes, a great approach is to use the notion of layers. These mountains are usually the dominating feature of a photo. You can make your pictures much more interesting by using addition layers in the foreground and the centre.
If you're taking a photo of a scene which doesn't have trees, cars or other familiar objects, such as a desert, you have nothing to show the size of objects in the shot. In this instance, you might wait until someone comes walking past to get a shot, or ask your buddy to stand in the frame.
Thank you for reading and don't forget to make use of some of the points I made next time you are shooting.
About the Author:
I hope this tutorial has helped you to gain a perspective on how to be a better photographer. If you want to pick up other tricks and take your skills up a level further, please take a look at another one of my blogs today and pick up other tricks.
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