ENHANCE PERSPECTIVE WITH LENSES
Lenses do more than simply control how much you can include in a shot
Wide-angle lenses ‘stretch’ perspective so the elements in a scene appear further apart than they really are. Conversely, telephoto lenses ‘compress’ perspective so those elements appear to be closer together.
True? Well, yes and no. All lenses actually record perspective in exactly the same way when used from the same position.
It’s only when you change the focal length of the lens and the position of the camera that perspective changes. The easiest way to prove this is to shoot a scene with both wide-angle and telephoto lenses from exactly the same position. The two photographs will obviously look different, because the wide-angle shot contains far more than the telephoto shot, but if you crop an area from the wide-angle shot that covers the same area covered by the telephoto shot, you’ll see that perspective is identical in both.
To change perspective, you not only have to change lenses, but also change camera position so that a key element appears the same size in both pictures. Let’s say you’re photographing a person standing in front of a building. First take a shot with a wide-angle lens so the person is just about the full height of the frame. You’ll see that perspective appears to have been stretched, with the building much further away than it really is. Next, switch to a telephoto lens and back off until the person is the same size in the frame as they were in the previous shot. Now you’ll see that perspective has been compressed and the building appears much closer to the person than it really is.
As you’ll see later in this feature when we explore different types of perspective, wideangle lenses are ideal for creating dynamic, 3D compositions. They enable you to really exaggerate scale and add a powerful sense of depth to your images. The wider the lens is (shorter focal length) the more pronounced the ‘stretching’ effect is. Crawl up to a snail in your garden with a 15mm lens and it will look bigger than your house!
On the other hand, telephoto lenses flatten perspective so everything appears to be closer together. The longer the focal length, the more pronounced this ‘foreshoretening’ is. It can be used to create detailed, frame-filling compositions that have energy and impact – especially in the urban environment where the crowding effect on buildings looks amazing.