Photography Topics

Perspective Distortion

Perspective Distortion refers to the phenomenon when part of a subject appears noticeably larger that the rest of it or larger than other objects in the resulting photo. Directly related to the focal length, perspective distortion increases the closer the camera is to its subject.

For example, think about a close-up picture of someone’s face. If the picture is centered on the face, the subject’s nose will appear distinctly (even abnormally) larger than the other features of the person’s face. In effect, the appearance of perspective distortion resembles the effect of a picture taken with a fisheye or wide-angle lens close to the subject.

To eliminate the possibility of having perspective distortion in photos, the photographer should have a distinct distance from his subject. Not only will the distance minimize the effect of perspective distortion, but it will also help bring the entire “body” of the subject into the frame.

While some photographers consider perspective distortion to negatively affect their pictures, others use it to add an artistic effect in their photos. In fact, photographers can use perspective distortion to emphasize certain aspects of their subject to underscore a specific meaning or poke fun at a particular aspect of the shot.