By Peter Thoeny, one of our Digital Photo Academy instructors in San Francisco.
Ask, what is a better fit, high vantage point, eye level, or low?
Ask, what would it look like straight up, down, or another weird angle?
Example : Low vantage point that makes the Landwasser Viaduct in the Swiss Alps look massiveExample: High vantage point with long lens, looks like aerial photography, but is from Mt. TamalpaisExample: Hunker down to get a low vantage point, so that you can emphasize the feeling of pride and heritage, at Stanford PowwowExample: The camera is touching the water puddle, so that you get a bigger and flat surface for reflection, at Calaveras Big Trees Visitor Center, CaliforniaExample: Low vantage point with reflection, makes it unusual; at de Young Museum, San FranciscoExample: Low vantage point, lines lead to the person, and the danger of the approaching car in the back; at Valley of Fire, NevadaExample: Get low, at the eye level of the small dog, as he sees the world; at train in Fort Bragg, CaliforniaExample: Get inside of a small tree, at Hakone Gardens, Saratoga, CaliforniaExample: Look straight up to see how massive that oak tree isExample: Get close to see the details of a dandelion, at Mills Canyon Park in Burlingame, CaliforniaExample: Position the height of the camera so that the white coat aligns with the horizon line, at Skógafoss Waterfall, IcelandExample: Look straight down, at Monument to the Great Fire of London. One-point perspective, alternatively use rule of thirds where center is in upper right third to show more of the”snail” shape
