With the rise of social media, photographers are seeking ways to make their work stand out from the crowd. Forced perspective is an innovative technique that content creators use to capture eye-catching photos that engage the viewer.
If you’re new to the concept of forced perspective, here’s how it works and how you can use it in your own images:
What is forced perspective photography?
Forced perspective photos use camera angles, perspective, and size to trick the viewer into viewing everyday objects or situations in a whole new way. Essentially, forced perspective is an optical illusion that plays with concepts of scale and placement.
Common examples of forced perspective photography
Have you ever seen a photo of a tourist posed with the Leaning Tower of Pisa where the placement makes it look like the tourist is holding up the tower? What about a photo of a person pinching the top of the Eiffel Tower, or swallowing the sun? These are common examples of forced perspective in photography.
This technique is much more common than you may realize. Some uses are exaggerated, while others are more subdued. In filmmaking, the common example is the Lord of the Rings movies. Peter Jackson placed the actors playing hobbits much farther from the camera than other performers so they would appear smaller. Portrait and wedding photographers do this to a lesser extent by posing taller subjects farther and shorter subjects closer to minimize height differences in images.
There are plenty of ways to employ forced perspective creatively. And if you want to have some fun with forced perspective during your next photoshoot, here are a few ideas to try with this photography technique.
Camera placement
When practicing forced perspective, camera placement is very important for creating a consistent vantage point. Using a tripod keeps your camera’s perspective and placement consistent, so you can easily make small changes. If your camera stays in the same position, you can also edit multiple exposures together in Photoshop later.
Once your camera is on a tripod, take a look at how moving subjects through the depth of field affects their relative size. Closer objects are much bigger, while distant objects appear quite small. Playing with these different sizes is one of the easiest ways to experiment with forced perspective photographs.
Camera settings
When setting up your camera, aperture is very important in creating an optical illusion. If you want both near and far objects to appear as if they’re on the same focal plane, they both need to be in focus. The easiest way to get everything you need in focus is by using a small aperture.
A narrow aperture will give you the greatest depth of field and create a more obvious relationship between objects. Try f/16 to start. You can go narrower if you need more depth of field.
The right location and lens
Forced perspective is much more believable in a wide open setting. Think about the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Both are wide open environments with plenty of room for photographers and subjects to position themselves for the ideal forced perspective.
If you’re looking for the perfect location for your forced perspective shots, consider going to a park or to the beach. Once you’ve found the right location, a wide angle lens is the best choice for flexibility in positioning and capturing the whole scene.
Practice makes perfect
While you may be tempted to use a self-timer so you can stand in your shots, you’ll have a hard time making adjustments. If possible, recruit a model and an object with an obvious and familiar scale.
If you can’t find any models to work with, try using action figures placed very close to the lens in familiar environments. With the right angle and some creativity, you can get some great shots without any help.
Whether you use living models or action figures, check your progress during your shoot. This will allow you to make adjustments to perfect your shots. Once you get the hang of subject placement and start brainstorming creative concepts, you’ll be creating fantastic forced perspective images in no time.
