The assignment for the week of 13 - 19 September 2010 is "Scale." In the context of photography, scale means the extent or relative size of something.
In our previous
Controlling Perspective assignment we talked about using different focal length lenses to modify the perceived distance between objects (perspective) in a scene based on their relative sizes. Because a shorter focal length lens results in the foreground elements appearing larger in relation to the background elements, we can use a shorter focal length lens to convey an “expanded” perspective. The "scale" of the expanse between foreground and background elements can be exaggerated using this technique. By placing an object of a "known" size in the foreground, and then getting close to that object and photographing with a wide angle lens we can skew the depth cues we are presenting to the viewer and make them believe that since the background objects are much smaller in relation to the foreground, they must be far away. Rebecca and I sometimes comment when we arrive at our tiny little hotel room (that looked much larger in the pictures) "my, they had a good photographer."
In the same Controlling Perspective assignment, I also touched briefly on the technique of choosing the focal length of your lens in order to consciously affect the perception of the relative size of objects in the scene and make one or more of the objects look larger or smaller than it really is. A shorter focal length lens will emphasize the foreground elements, while a longer focal length will emphasize the background elements. In that previous assignment I used the example of the barn in front of the Teton Mountains, and showed examples of how using a shorter focal length lens will exaggerate the size of the barn (the foreground) in relation to the mountains, whereas standing much further back from the barn and using a long telephoto lens will "shrink" the barn and emphasize the size of the mountains. One common mistake made by tourists when photographing the mountains is to use a wide angle lens in an attempt to get the entire grand scene into the frame. When they get home and view their images, those mountains will look much less impressive than they were in real life, because the wide angle lens will make them seem smaller in relation to the foreground.
So we can affect the viewers perception of scale by using different focal length lenses and consciously modifying the depth cues. We can more directly affect our viewers perception of scale by including an object of a "known" size near our primary subject so that viewers can use the relative sizes between the objects to judge the size of the second object. Here's an image of the bronze sculpture "An American Horse" Can you get a sense for how large the sculpture is from this image?
The American Horse
How about this image with Evan standing at the feet of the horse, now do you get a better sense for the "scale" of this sculpture?
The American Horse and Evan
The assignment for the week of 13 - 19 September 2010 is "Scale." Please upload your images to the "Scale" album in the weekly assignments category of the gallery no-later-than midnight Mountain time (GMT -07:00) on Sunday, 19 September 2010.
I'll look forward to seeing your images.
Keith
