Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Trick To Distort The Size Of Your Photographs

One of the nice trick in photography is that you can change the size of near and far objects. You can make far object look closer to your subject in your picture. Or you can increase the distance between the subject and the background.

The trick is with the lens. There is no special skills.

If you want the background closer to the subject, zoom to a high setting - usually around 80mm or higher. Step a little back as you zoom your lens so the subject will appear bigger in your viewfinder. I would normally step back enough so the subject would fit well into the picture frame. Once you take the picture, you will see that the background is closer to the subject... sometimes, just behind it.

Now, if you want the background farther away from the subject, use the wide angle. Set your wide angle to the lowest number as possible - usually 28mm or 35mm - and get step closer to the subject... close enough so the subject fits well into the picture frame. You will notice that the backgound extends farther away from the subject.

Play with these settings. You can create dramatic and artistic effects by distorting the proportion.

And remember, practice and practice. It can only make you a better photographer.

David

2 comments:

Jaap Bakker said...

Very interesting, I have to try this with my camera, although, do I need a very high quality camera to do so. I mean, can I even do this with my Sony DSC W40?

David said...

Yes, you can use your Sony DSC W40 to do this. You don't need a high quality camera.

You only need to have a lens that can go from 28mm or 35mm to at least 80mm.

Test it with someone and a large object (like a building or mountain) far behind. And set your shooting mode to landscape.

It will be clearer if you do this when there is a lot of sunlight. But, it's not necessary.

David