How to Create Forced Perspective Photos
What is Forced Perspective?
Forced perspective is a photographic illusion generally used to make two or more objects seem to be a different size than their actual size. This type of forced perspective is made possible by the single lens of the camera. Unlike your eyes, which work in tandem to create depth perception, the camera only has one eye. As such, the camera has no depth perception, it sees things as flat. This is the same reason tree limbs in the background appear to grow out of the head of subjects in photographs.
Photographs where one subject seems to merge with another and photographs which defy gravity are technically part of this genre of photography as well although they actually rely more on orientation and point of view than a true visual compression due to the single eye of the lens.
Indeed, even the carried away by balloons illusion technically falls into forced perspective as the angle of view under the subject’s feet is compressed by the camera to create the illusion of more height. Types of Forced Perspective Forced Perspective generally falls into a few main categories.
1. Making a main subject larger
2. Making a main subject smaller
3. Merging subjects
4. Bending gravity
Common Forced Perspective Photos
While the opportunities for forced perspective are nearly limitless, there are some "standard" photos that have come to represent forced perspective purely because of how common these specific photos have become as they are copied many times.
- Holding a landmark
- Holding/eating the sun/moon
- Holding another person in one hand
- Toy larger than person/pet
- People hanging from top of photo
- Person stepping on another person
- An older photograph or a sketch merged over a current scene
WHAT TO DO:
You will shoot 15 different forced perspective photos on your phone using Lightroom CC. THEY MUST BE ALL DIFFERENT.
NEED INSPIRATION???
Check out the following websites:
- 40 Examples of Forced Perspective
- 88 Brilliant Examples of Forced Perspective
- 17 Forced Perspective Techniques
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WHAT TO TURN IN:
You will edit all 15 images.
You will upload to your website your BEST 5.
Please write a reflection about this assignment. Minimum two paragraphs.
You will edit all 15 images.
You will upload to your website your BEST 5.
Please write a reflection about this assignment. Minimum two paragraphs.
