FORCED PERSPECTIVE

WHAT IS FORCED PERSPECTIVE?

Perspective, by definition, is a particular view of something. If a picture is taken from a “bird’s-eye-view” it means the picture is taken from the bird’s perspective.

In a forced-perspective photograph, you are intentionally changing the perspective of the photo by placing a small item close to the camera, and a large item further away behind it. In the 1950’s this was how they produced dinosaur movies, by placing a small plastic dinosaur near the camera lens, and the actors further behind it. (Remember, there were no computer-generated graphics at that time).

In order for your picture to work, your foreground AND background will need to be in focus (deep depth-of-field). You should remember from our depth-of-field lessons that you will need to use a small aperture in order to get the proper depth of field.  To do this, set your camera to the aperture priority mode (AV) and set the f/stop to f/8 or higher. Keep in mind that this means you will be letting in very little light through the lens, so the camera will set itself to a slower shutter speed.  Because of this, you should either be shooting outside in the bright sunlight, or with a tripod.

The mechanical aspects of this assignment really aren’t that hard.  What you’ll need is patience and a lot of creativity to come up with creative pictures, like the samples on this page below . You can also find many excellent examples online, so feel free to go online and do a search for “forced perspective" photographs.

Depth of Field – A Guide for Beginners: https://www.media-division.com/depth-of-field-a-guide-for-beginners/