PERSPECTIVE

Perspective—the relationship of the objects to each other in a photograph to create a real sense of scale, size, and distance.

This includes their relative positions and sizes and the space between them. In other words, perspective in the composition of a photograph is the way real three-dimensional objects are pictured in a photograph that has a two-dimensional plane.

In photography, perspective is another illusion you use to produce photographs of quality composition. When you are making pictures, the camera always creates perspective. Because a camera automatically produces perspective, many novice photographers believe there is no need to know much about it. This attitude is far from correct.

When you know the principles of perspective and skillfully apply them, the photographs you produce show a good rendition of the subject's form and shape, and the viewer is given the sensation of volume, space, depth, and distance.

Additionally, the photographer can manipulate perspective to change the illusion of space and distance by either expanding or compressing these factors, therefore providing a sense of scale within the picture

There are SEVEN (7) different primary types of Perspective used in Photography:

Linear Perspective
Rectilineal Perspective
Cylindrical Perspective
Vanishing Point Perspective
Height Perspective
Overlap Perspective
Dwindling Size Perspective

1. Linear Perspective - this is a zoomed-in perspective...The human eye judges distance by the way elements within a scene diminish in size, and the angle at which lines and planes converge.

The distance between camera and subject and the lens focal length are critical factors affecting linear perspective. This perspective changes as the camera position or viewpoint changes. From a given position, changing only the lens focal length, and not the camera position, does not change the actual viewpoint, but may change the apparent viewpoint.

The use of different focal-length lenses in combination with different lens-to-subject distances helps you alter linear perspective in your pictures. When the focal length of the lens is changed but the lens-to-subject distance remains unchanged, there is a change in the image size of the objects, but no change in perspective. On the other hand, when the lens-to-subject distance and lens focal length are both changed, the relationship between objects is altered and perspective is changed. By using the right combination of camera-to-subject distance and lens focal length, a photographer can create a picture that looks deep or shallow. This feeling of depth or shallowness is only an illusion, but it is an important composition factor.

Using a short-focal-length lens from a close camera-to-subject distance, or viewpoint, produces a picture with greater depth (not to be confused with depth of field) than would be produced with a standard lens.

Conversely, using a long-focal-length lens from a more distant viewpoint produces a picture with less apparent depth, compressing space between you and your subject to create a very different perspective.

Linear perspective is used with this image...this helps this composition by zooming in closer with the camera, you are compressing the space between the viewer and the subject of the picture, the lighthouse, this puts you closer to the lighthouse and makes the flower field seem more full

Linear perspective is used with this image...this helps this composition by zooming in closer with the camera, you are compressing the space between the viewer and the subject of the picture, this puts you closer to the Golden Gate Bridge and makes the city of San Francisco in the background of the image look closer than it really is in real life

2. Rectilinear Perspective - this is typical of what the human eye sees. Not wide angle or zoomed in, just straight like the eye would see the scene

Most lenses produce rectilinear perspective. The human eye sees at the equivalent focal length of about 50mm. Rectilinear perspective is achieved at about 35-70mm. This is to say that lines that are straight in the subject are reproduced straight in the picture. This is the most common type of perspective. Most pictures you see have been captured with a rectilinear lens, especially images taken with cellphones.

Rectilinear perspective is used with this image...this was captured at a focal length of 58mm, which is pretty close to how the human eye sees in focal length to give you more of the feeling of being right there, seeing this scene the same as when the image was taken

3. Cylindrical Perspective – this is a wide-angle perspective…

Fisheye lenses and the lenses used on panoramic cameras produce a false perspective. A panoramic lens produces panoramic or cylindrical perspective.

In other words, all straight horizontal lines at the lens axis level are recorded as straight lines, and all other straight horizontal lines either above or below the lens axis level are reproduced as curved lines. The other false perspective is produced by a fisheye lens in which all straight lines in the subject are imaged as curved lines toward the edges of the picture.

Cylindrical perspective is used in this image...this is a wide-angle shot at 14mm to bring a different artistic perspective into the image

Cylindrical perspective is used in this image...this is a panoramic shot at 24mm to create a 1:3 ration in the image, 30% longer than regular images, creates a unique focus and emphasis on the glowing clouds at sunset and all the reflections in the wet sand

4. Vanishing Point Perspective – lines that are parallel to each other give the sensation of meeting at vanishing points, giving the impression of depth the closer these lines get to each other.

When parallel lines are perpendicular to the lens axis (top to bottom of image), the vanishing points are assumed to be at infinity.

Other lines, those which are parallel to the lens axis (left to right in image), and all other parallel lines at all other angles to the lens axis meet at definable vanishing points. Lines that are parallel to the lens axis, or nearly parallel, start in the front of the picture and meet at vanishing points within or at finite points outside the picture.

Vanishing Point Perspective is used in this image...the parallel lines of the sides of the track of this "sailing stone" create much depth as they get closer and closer together the further into the background you go...this adds very nice depth to the image.

Notice that there also is Dwindling Size Perspective used here as well as the size od the cracks in the mud playa get smaller and smaller as you go towards the background of the image..

Vanishing Point Perspective is used in this image...the parallel lines of the fountain here create much depth as they get closer and closer together the further into the background you go...this adds very nice depth to the image.

Notice that there also is Dwindling Size Perspective used here as the size of the buildings gets smaller as you move towards the horizon of the image

5. Height Perspective - the place where the base of an object is located on the ground in a picture is a clue to its distance from the camera viewpoint.

For example, in a landscape scene, the ground or ground plane rises toward the horizon. The higher up in the ground area of the picture (up to the horizon) that the base of an object is located, the further away it seems from the viewpoint and the greater its height perspective.

Height Perspective is used with this image to give extra depth with the idea that the tree on top of this weather eroded hill is farther away

Height Perspective is used with this image...the mountains and moon are clearly farther away because of the height of them being above the horizon line of the image...also notice that this image uses also Dwindling Size Perspective and Overlap Perspective to give more clues about depth in the image

6. Overlap Perspective - When subjects within the picture are on about the same line of sight, those objects closer to the camera viewpoint overlap more distant objects and partially hide them.

It is obvious to the viewer that the partially obstructed object is behind the unobstructed object. This overlap is repeated many times within the picture and gives the viewer a sense of depth and a perception of the relative distance of objects.

Overlap Perspective is used in this image...as you go deeper into the forest, more and more trees are partially obcured from view giving a greater sense of depth

Overlap Perspective is used in this image...the Milky Way is overlapped by Mount Fuji, and the mountain is and the stars are both overlapped by the pagoda in the foreground giving a dynamic sense of depth to the image

7. Dwindling Size Perspective - when subjects of familiar size are included in a photograph, they help to establish the scale of the picture. Scale helps the viewer determine or visualize actual size or relative size of objects in a picture

Through the experience of vision, you are aware of the size of many common objects, such as people, trees, cars, buildings, and animals, this gives the perception of scale.

For example, you are aware that most adults are about 5 to 6 feet tall; therefore, when two people are shown in a picture and one appears twice as tall as the other, you cannot assume that one is in reality taller than the other. Instead you assume the taller person is closer and the shorter person farther away from the camera viewpoint.

In this same manner, you make a size relationship evaluation of all familiar objects. Thus you can make a distance determination from this size relationship evaluation. The farther away an object is from the viewpoint, the smaller it appears; therefore, when subjects of familiar size are included in a photograph, they help to establish the scale of the picture. .

Dwindling Size Perspective is used in this image...depth is gained as the trees continually appear smaller and smaller all the way to the background of the image (the "tunnel exit")

Dwindling Size Perspective is used in this image...scale is gained as to just how big this sea cave is by the size of the dog in the image being so small...you know how big a golden retriever is from experience of seeing them in real life, so your mind creates depth and scale based on your memories