October 2024, Perspective Distortion

News about happenings at Deliberate Light and photography instruction (see Digital Photo Academy). My views on this month’s photography topic: Perspective Distortion. To get these newsletters by email a month before they are posted here, go to the DeliberateLight.com website and click on Newsletter Signup.

NEWS

Upcoming Workshops. Workshops will be offered by Digital Photo Academy on November 2nd and December 7th, though I am not scheduled to teach again until January 7, 2025 at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia You can sign up here if interested.

· Mastering Your Camera Controls (1.5 hours) – intended for DSLR/Mirrorless/Compact cameras (smartphone tutorial available separately)

· Composition in the Field (3 hours) – walking tour around the venue with instruction and hands-on practice composing photos (bring any camera)

New Photo.

The Waiting Woods. On this little hillside, a person is readying for a walk from a house down the wooded slope. The light is dramatic and makes the woods a little scary in the darker parts. But a path is well-lit, at least in some places. What are you waiting for? All to be revealed?

(Rose Valley, PA, 2023)

For a more detailed, enlarged view and to get it printed, see it on my website.

VIEWS

Perspective Distortion: the impression of distortion of a subject due to the point-of-view of the camera. I have previously talked about perspective distortion in reference to portraiture (see my September 2023 nesletter “Pictures of Pictures” and my May 2024 newsletter “More About Portraiture”). Perspective distortion in a two-dimensional photo results from the fact that things farther away from the camera tend to look smaller and things closer tend to look bigger. This distorting effect is most apparent the closer you get to your subject. The distortions can be distracting, like a huge head on someone or a rectangular object appearing lopsided, and therefore to be avoided or corrected. But this effect can be also used creatively to form an impression, for example, in this photo of the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument in Washington, DC, the statue appears very imposing.

Or the effect in this photo, making the tall building seem really big.

Conversely, that effect can be used to convey remoteness or great distance by virtue of near objects looking much bigger than far objects. This photo is an example in which the US Capital Building appears tiny compared to the Washington Monument, which is in turn swamped by the reflecting pool (sorry, I couldn’t help the pun).

Or in this late afternoon view of the Grand Canyon from an elk’s perspective in which the distance to the slopes of the hills are visually accentuated by the size of the elk’s head in the forefront.

Carl Finkbeiner

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