I origianly posted this 3 years ago, but recently was brought up again when a challenge to prove that sensor size will affect perspective. Here is the original posting I did.

Perspective is used to define the relationship of subject size in relation to the background. Though many use the term incorrectly, suggesting that a wide angle lens has a different perspective as a telephoto lens. Saying such is not completely true nor is it completely false. Usually when we use a wide angle lens and shoot subjects at very close distance, the subject appears larger than the background thus giving us an exagerated perspective, while when using a telephoto and shooting subjects at a distance, we get a subject that appears similar sized as our background or we can say we have a compressed perspective. Though the example shows that a wide angle and telephoto has different perspective, but the key here is not the focal length use but the distance of the camera and subject. Perspective is solely a function of disitance of camera and subject, meaning no matter what lens is used for as long as camera and subject remain in the same position, perspective will be the same. Focal length affects distortion (barrel or pin cushion) and field of view.

Here is a little test I did:

I did a series of photos of a static subject and the camera on a tripod. I used the following lenses:

Nikon 16mm F2.8 Fisheye
Nikon 28mm F2.8
Nikon 50mm F1.8
Nikon 60mm F2.8 Macro
Nikon 85mm F1.8
Sigma 15-30mm @ 15mm

All shot at F5.6, I converted it to black and white to avoid confusion with color rendition. I also cropped everything to make the subject all relatively same size. Can you easily tell which was shot with which focal length? This clearly shows that perspective is similar no matter what lens is used, for as long as subject to camera distance is the same.

Now here is a more recent test that I did:

Persepective or the compression effect or exagerated effect has nothing to do with the sensor, if you shot a subject at the same distance (ex. 5 ft away using 50mm on a crop body and a 75mm on a FF) their perspective is going to be the same, the difference is depth of field which is around 1 stop. Remember perspective is a function of distance not focal length nor sensor size.

2 photos shot with a D90 @ 135mm and D700 @ 200mm, using the same zoom lens (to keep quality constant) and distance. Only had to adjust aperture (D90 @f/4 and D700 @f/5.6) to equalize the DOF. You be the judge if there is any difference in perspective.

You can bring out your ruler then measure the size of the cow and the martian at the back then see how similar the ratio is, which simply means perspective was neither compressed nor exagerated by changing camera and focal length since the key here is distance to subject, which in both photos are similar.

If you want to do a practical excercise, try this:

Part 1 – Keeping perspective similar

1. Make sure you a way to keep the camera at the same place for the first half of this activity. A tripod is reccomended.
2. Use multiple focal length lenses or a zoom lens.
3. Line up 2 still objects, preferably 1 is double the size of the other. Put the larger object behind the smaller one.
4. Shoot with a small aperture to make DOF wide enough for us to see the subject and background.
5. Shoot at different focal length while still keeping the focus on the smaller object at all time.

As you do this you will notice the subject (or the object in focus) will keep changing magnification, but the amount of magnification will be proportional to the rear object. This proportional gain is what perspective is all about, keeping the ratio of the subject to the background similar means perspective is the same. To see the similarity, you can gather all your photos in an editing software and crop the images to keep the subject appearing the same size. You can even measure the front object (subject) from the rear object (background) and see how the ratio of their size will remain the same all throughout the test.

Part 2 – Keeping magnification similar

1. Once again I reccomend using a zoom lens.
2. Zoom in to the subject and note size of the subject relative to the whole photo.
3. Now after each shot, change the focal length to a wider one (zoom out) but to keep the subject to appear the same size as the previous shot, so you have to keep stepping forward. Do this until you have max out the wideness of your lens.

As you do this you will notice that though the size of the subject will remain the same, the object at the rear will appear to get smaller and smaller. This is what you call an exagerated perspective.

These test will prove that perspective can only be altered if distance to subject is changed, no other things can affect perspective.

Are you satisfied with having captured a great image? Maybe it’s time to learn to more than just capture but create great images. Learning and mastering the proper way to light will make creating a possibility.

This class will help you discover your own style, and not the style of the one conducting the seminar.

Seminar covers everything from basic to advance, the only lighting class you will ever need to take.

This seminar boast one of the best student to teacher ratio of 1:10, so sign up early for one of the limited 10 slots.

Feedbacks from past participants:

“Hi Ken, thank you for sharing with us your knowledge and expertise in the field of lighting. I truly learned so much from you and enjoyed the seminar a lot. Overall, i would rate the seminar 5 stars . Keeping the atmosphere light and fun helped us absorb the topics easier. Valuable knowledge was learned without information overload. The actual shoot was the highlight of it all. Being able to apply the topics hands on was the best training anyone could have. I would highly recommend your classes to my friends who are getting into photography like myself.”

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Where: Unit 602 Cityland 10 Tower 2, H.V. Dela Costa St. Salcedo Village, Makati City, behind RCBC Tower. Map to the studio.

Batch 50 (November 2010)

Day 1 Nov 16, 2010 Tuesday 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Day 2 Nov 18, 2010 Thursday 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Day 3 Nov 20, 2010 Saturday 10 a.m. or 3 p.m. (choose a timeslot)
Day 4 Nov 22, 2010 Monday 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

1st day topics:
Basic Photography refresher
Studio Equipment
Light modifiers
Triggering lights
Basic Portrait Lighting

2nd day topics:
Lighting ratios
Learning how to dissect the light set-up of a photo
Using a flash meter (hands on)

3rd day Actual Shoot with live models and professional make-up artist.

Class will be broken into 2 groups, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Participants should only come on their time slot, to avoid over crowding. During the shoot, each participant will be asked to conceptualize a lighting set-up to be done with their model, other participants on the same group will be assisting. After the participant finishes the shoot, other participant on the group will do the same, so the previous participant will now be acting as the assistant. (round robin system) this guarantees a hands- on set-up, thus learning from actually doing it rather than just listening. This will also make sure that the participants will the only one shooting at the time of his/her set-up, so he/she gets all the needed angles to complete the shoot, no more wrestling for a spot just to get the photo.

4th day topics:

Portable lighting equipment (strobist)
Simplified Post Processing workflow (Batch processing)
Critique session

For the critique session, participants will be asked to bring 1 to 2 of their favorite photo from the photo session printed on 5R, ink jet prints on photo paper are acceptable. All photos will be posted together on the wall for viewing.
Seminar Price is P. 4,000.00 – inclusive of handouts and certificates

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seminars@photosbykengo.com

A few photos from the September 2010 Seminar.

Lighting Set-up, concept and photography by the participants.

Participants:

Jigs Leonardo, Dondi Dueñas, Kitch Leguiab, Jerry Tieng, Richard M. Romero, Aurie Anden, Lallie Udquin and Ritchie Diga

Behind the scenes: