P | P2 | EX2: Viewpoint
- Amber Houbara
- Jun 14, 2024
- 2 min read
Does zooming in from a fixed viewpoint change the appearance of things? If you enlarge and compare individual elements within the first and last shots of the last exercise you can see that their ‘perspective geometry’ is exactly the same. To change the way things actually look, a change in focal length needs to be combined with a change in viewpoint.
Select your longest focal length and compose a portrait shot fairly tightly within the frame in front of a background with depth. Take one photograph. Then walk towards your subject while zooming out to your shortest focal length. Take care to frame the subject in precisely the same way in the viewfinder and take a second shot. Compare the two images and make notes in your learning log.
As you page between the two shots it can be shocking to see completely new elements crash into the background of the second shot while the subject appears to remain the same. This exercise clearly shows how focal length combined with viewpoint affects perspective distortion. Perspective distortion is actually a normal effect of viewing an object, for example where parallel train tracks appear to meet at the horizon. A ‘standard lens’ – traditionally a 50mm fixed focal length lens for a full-frame camera (about 33mm in a cropped-frame camera) – approximates the perspective distortion of human vision (not the angle of view, which is much wider). A standard lens is therefore the lens of choice for ‘straight’ photography, which aims to make an accurate record of the visual world.
This exercise was interesting especilly as I chose to take pictures of a little sculpture I have at home, I tried multiple times, but something was more interesting than the aim of the task itself.
The tiger has a tilt in his body, and as it is small I placed it on a pile of rocks we have in our yard.
I zoomed out and took a picture of it from a short distance, then zoomed in and walked back.
For some strange reason it always seemed like the body of the tiger is in a different angle even when I tried to move in an exact line.
I am assuming this happened because of the aperture and as the body seems more blurry on the close up image.
I could see how the background is getting a total different field from this exercise, for example being able to see more of the trees the house in the background and water tank on the second image.
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