Perspective - Sense of
Depth in Photography
By: Andrea Ghilardelli
Perspective
is a part of geometry teaching how to render a
three-dimensional figure on a two-dimensional
surface, so that, looking at the representation, we
have the same impression that we have with the real
figure. Therefore, it is easy to see that
perspective is very important in photography. This
is particularly true in landscape photography. A
photographer should know how perspective works and
how to exploit it to render reality as he or she
desires.
Simply stated, perspective relies on two fundamental
rules:
1) The nearer the object, the bigger it appears. 2) Parallel lines seem to converge toward a
point.
Our
brain relies on these two tenets to perceive depth
and distance. So, getting down to the nitty-gritty,
if a photographer wants to create a conspicuous
sense of depth, he should make the above-mentioned
rules evident. On the contrary, if his aim is to
make a picture look flat, he should minimize these
two perspective effects.
Let us assume we want to produce a strong sense
of depth. We can achieve our goal by inserting
in our picture a few converging lines. The more
converging, the more intense the sensation of depth.
Alternatively, or together with it, we can put an
object in the near foreground and a far background
behind. The object in the foreground will appear
bigger compared to the background and, again, this
will improve our impression of depth. The nearer the
object in the foreground, the higher the perception
of depth. For instance, when shooting a landscape
picture, have some flowers in the foreground and the
panorama behind. On the other hand, if a
photographer would like to make a picture look flat,
he should remove any object in the foreground or
step back from it so as to render it less
conspicuous.
Be
careful when getting closer to an object in the
foreground, however, as it may get out of focus.
Always keep an eye on the depth of focus of
your camera and lens system when taking a picture.
Both the foreground and the background should be in
focus, unless a blur effect is intentional. So
choose the aperture of your camera accordingly.
If you happen often to take landscape pictures and
then, when looking at them, realize that they do not
convey the same feelings as reality, sometimes it
may be because of lack of depth. Try applying the
rules in this article to give your two-dimensional
images a better illusion of depth.
Perspective
is a part of geometry teaching how to render a
three-dimensional figure on a two-dimensional
surface, so that, looking at the representation, we
have the same impression that we have with the real
figure. Therefore, it is easy to see that
perspective is very important in photography. This
is particularly true in landscape photography. A
photographer should know how perspective works and
how to exploit it to render reality as he or she
desires.
Our
brain relies on these two tenets to perceive depth
and distance. So, getting down to the nitty-gritty,
if a photographer wants to create a conspicuous
sense of depth, he should make the above-mentioned
rules evident. On the contrary, if his aim is to
make a picture look flat, he should minimize these
two perspective effects.
Be
careful when getting closer to an object in the
foreground, however, as it may get out of focus.
Always keep an eye on the depth of focus of
your camera and lens system when taking a picture.
Both the foreground and the background should be in
focus, unless a blur effect is intentional. So
choose the aperture of your camera accordingly.
