60 DIGITAL CAMERA^ AUGUST 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
CAMERA COLLEGEis what’s known as ‘compression distortion’.
It’s an effective way to make elements of
your composition appear densely packed
together. You can use this attribute to give
your portraits a more professional look,
sandwiching a sharply rendered person
between a blurred foreground and a blurred
background to make them really stand out.
There are some subjects where telephoto
lenses just go with the territory – including
sports and wildlife, where you may not be
able to get physically close enough to use
a shorter focal length. But reaching for
a long lens also gives you more creative
options when you’re shooting anything
from landscapes to fine art.
Of course, the extreme perspectives
afforded by using both very short and verylong focal lengths can draw attention to
themselves in a picture, which can end
up being all about the ‘look’ rather than
the subject itself. While this may not
be a bad thing in itself, what if you
want a more natural look?
Full-frame focal lengths in the
40-50mm range (and their cropped-sensor
equivalents) are said to give an equivalent
view to the human eye. You don’t have to
be too close or too far from the subject to
get a suitable image size, so the perspective
distortion is minimal. These ‘standard’
lenses essentially become ‘invisible’,
allowing viewers to concentrate on the
subject of the picture without being
distracted by the optical effects
associated with extreme focal lengths.Of course, the extreme
perspectives afforded
by very short and very
long focal lengths can
draw attention to
themselves in a pictureOther types of perspective
‘Perspective’ crops up in other areas of photography, but what do ‘aerial’ and ‘forced’ mean?
Using forced
perspective allows you
to play with scale and make
objects look bigger or
smaller in a picture than
they really are. This
technique requires little
more than choosing a
camera position and focal
length that will make
objects in both the
foreground and background
appear to be in the same
plane. Using a long focal
length will make distant
objects appear larger, with
shorter focal lengthsmaking them look smaller.
With careful positioning, you
can bring a large structure
down to the size of a human
(like a tourist holding up the
Leaning Tower of Pisa) or
make a small feature
appear giant-sized.
Aerial or ‘atmospheric’
perspective is commonly
used in painting to add a
sense of depth. Objects are
made to look more distant
by making them look paler
and bluer. You can achieve
a similar look by shooting
on a hazy or misty day.Aerial A telephoto lens isn’t essential for capturing aerial perspective,
but the ‘compression’ enhances the effect.Feel the force With forced perspective, a longer focal length
will make distant objects appear larger in relation to the subject.