Comments on: Focal length and perspective http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/07/focal-length-and-perspective/ Blog about News, Tips and tutorial about HDSLR cameras Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:04:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: admin http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/07/focal-length-and-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-2213 admin Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:08:12 +0000 http://www.canon5dtips.com/?p=658#comment-2213 Hi Matt, while the situation you describe is not what I tried to illustrate in my example (because I change the distance to subject between shots to make the subject size constant), you are correct. I will update the article to make this clearer, especially in the section you outlined. Thanks. While mathematically it is true that perspective does not change at constant subject to camera distance, the fact that only a portion of the subject can be framed (and an even smaller portion of the background) gives the effect of 'perspective compression'. And in the end, it is the result that counts. Hi Matt, while the situation you describe is not what I tried to illustrate in my example (because I change the distance to subject between shots to make the subject size constant), you are correct. I will update the article to make this clearer, especially in the section you outlined. Thanks.

While mathematically it is true that perspective does not change at constant subject to camera distance, the fact that only a portion of the subject can be framed (and an even smaller portion of the background) gives the effect of ‘perspective compression’. And in the end, it is the result that counts.

]]> By: Matt Needham http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/07/focal-length-and-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-2212 Matt Needham Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:23:21 +0000 http://www.canon5dtips.com/?p=658#comment-2212 "It is the same principle that is used in landscape photography: instead of shooting with a wide angle, using a telephoto compress the horizon and makes all the mountains seem closer to each others..." Not unless distance to subject also changes. Perspective is controlled by where the camera is in relation to the subject/scene; focal length controls magnification. If shooting the same scene from the same place it doesn't matter if using wide angle or telephoto perspective remains the same. “It is the same principle that is used in landscape photography: instead of shooting with a wide angle, using a telephoto compress the horizon and makes all the mountains seem closer to each others…”

Not unless distance to subject also changes. Perspective is controlled by where the camera is in relation to the subject/scene; focal length controls magnification. If shooting the same scene from the same place it doesn’t matter if using wide angle or telephoto perspective remains the same.

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