This becomes useful when you’re trying to photograph a
subject against a background that you are never going to get
close to, like a full-moon rising at sunset. The only way to make
the moon look large in a photograph is to put on a long lens,
but if you want to include other elements in the photograph,
you will need to move backwards to include them in the photo
too. If you are photographing a model against a moonrise,
chances are you might need to move back 20 metres or more
to include them in the photo. If you want to make a city
skyline look good against the moonrise, you will need to move
back several kilometres. And this is where many experienced
photographers understand the importance of planning the
line and length of a photograph. When you’re working in
kilometres, you want to be certain you have clear lines and
achievable lengths for the photo, otherwise you could be
scrambling to try and find the right location for a shot.
Working elevation
Having determined the line, the length and lens for the shot, one
final element to think about is elevation. Most photographers
usually make photos at eye level and often forget to get low or
get high with the camera, and yet these options can dramatically
change the context of a photograph. Getting low can do a variety
of things, from bringing textures into the picture, to eliminating
visual clutter from the foreground and background. Alternatively,
getting the camera up higher, even if it is only by a metre or two
can help add scale to a scene. Your decision to photograph a
subject from a low level, eye level or a high level can also imply
psychological or social attitudes towards that subject. Looking
up at someone or something is to put them on a pedestal, to look
down is to think less of them while to look at someone, including
a child, from eye-level is to treat them as an equal. The elevation
of the camera gives you the choice of treating someone as a hero
or a victim; or making a landscape tactile or spacious.A game or a dance?
The checkerboard exercise is a simple example of just how many
potential perspective options there are within any one situation.
What is even more important to remember though, is that this
idea does not just apply to portraiture; it applies to nearly every
genre of photography, from macro images on a table top, where
a few millimetres can make a big difference to a photo, through
to landscape and aerial photography where one or two kilometres- or in some cases 50 kilometres – can dramatically change a
photograph for the better.
The important part about all of this though, is that it really
does remind us of the scale and potential of any given shooting
situation. Of course, every photographer will approach these
situations in their own unique way. Many photographers will
plan out the line and length of every photo they take, while
other photographers will simply rely on serendipity; that luck
of walking around a corner to see a great scene on a day when
they just happen to have their camera with them. But for
photographers like me, there are also those dynamic situations
where the music is happening, the crowd is moving and you
need to be constantly moving as well to find the important
elements within the scene. I am still looking for the line, length,
the lens and the elevation within the photograph. But when
everything is moving around, that’s when it feels more like a
dance for me. ❂
AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY + DIGITAL SEPTEMBER 2015 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 33