3 Types Of Perspective

If you've looked at my photographs much (and I hope you have or will) you'll see all kinds of perspective being used. The most common technique for doing that in my photographs is the use of converging lines.

All those lines on the buildings and in the street in this photograph from Old San Juan, PR, point directly to the old gate in front of which a young couple is being photographed while an accordion player, looking stooped and forlorn, plays to one side of the street.

That convergence technique doesn't always apply to straight lines.

NOTE: A tilt-shift lens helps keep those vertical lines from converging in a photograph like this one from the Old Square in Siracusa, Sicily, Italy. You may take some photographs in which you want vertical convergence.

Another technique that creates perspective is the placement of objects or people in the photograph that define the distance involved.

In this photograph from the TPC, in Avondale, the tree in the forground combines with the shore of the water and the size of the trees farther away to give me the perspective I sought.

The size thing is the third and, I think, most subtle technique for creating perspective, the variable sizes of things in the picture.

This is a photograph taken in Arlington National Cemetery. The headstones diminish in size as they form lines that seem to diverge but really converge in the background. The people also are larger near the lens than farther away.

So this whole perspective thing is accomplished with variations on the 3 themes I mentioned using whatever is at your disposal. In most scenic photography, outdoors, in large rooms, anywhere that presents the chance to describe distance or space in your photograph, the means of doing so will probably be in the scene itself. Your use of aperture and angle will translate that sense of perspective in to the photograph.

I was trying to get a shot of a cleared lot in Houston, TX, for a client who wanted documentation of efforts to clear debris from said lot. The presence of the flower close to the front of the lot gave me the opportunity to dramatize the perspective and make, I think, a more pleasing photograph. The abundance of sunlight meant I had no trouble using an aperture that would increase my depth of field to the necessary length.

If the light is low you'll have to try things like higher ISO settings and using a tripod to reduce camera shake. Sometimes you can meter for a bright light in the distance and let the near objects be silhouettes against it.

This tug was photographed pushing a line of barges along a canal near Galveston Bay. This is another example of how the elements of perspective are part of the scene and you get to decide how to use them.