Today’s Lesson: How to make something small look bigger than something big.
Or, for the more formally art-trained: Using perspective and camera lens distortion to make an object in the foreground seem larger than an object in the background.
The age group I teach on Wednesday is 11-14. We covered camera basics last class so today I figured I’d ask them to check their ISO settings and white balance before we went out. Predictably, about half of them looked at me blankly.
A side note: One of the first things I learned as a teacher is the importance of review, especially for weekly/semi-weekly classes. I don’t do it formally – I just ask them to do the same stuff repeatedly from class to class. The real payoff comes on the day when we get ready to step out the door to shoot and someone asks me “What ISO setting?”
Malcolm X Park is just two blocks away from Sitar Arts Center so we hiked over there with the cameras and a bag of plastic cowboys and indians from a Fort Apache set I found in a box of abandoned toys walking home one night.
(It was a remarkable score, actually – a half-complete Fort Apache set, a great Superman figure with obvious Bruce Timm styling, a Spiderman with magnetic hands and feet, a smattering of Harry Potter Legos and quite a few Lincoln Logs mixed in with 4 cans of spray paint and a bunch of other toys that I ended up putting out in front of my own house. Recycling tip: If you want to get rid of boys’ toys, put them out in a hipster neighborhood. If the scruffy-converse-wearing guy next door who plays bass in a band doesn’t pick them up, his bearded poet buddies will race their mutton-chop tattoo artist friends for them.)
But I digress. I knew that the cameras the kids have would have trouble focusing on the foreground objects and they did. It’s probably a little underhanded but I like creating situations for students to make what seem like mistakes. It’s easy to forget successes (especially when you don’t know there was even potential for a flub at the moment you succeeded) but mistakes are rarely forgotten.
After 20 minutes or so, we came back, downloaded the images and critiqued them, covered focus lock and then I set them loose in the lobby to see what they could accomplish by 4pm. They were much improved – particularly rewarding were the 2 girls so into it they forgot what time it was.
For those of you interested in the technique, there are a few requirements: you need a wide angle lens, preferably with a macro. Set your aperture however you prefer but try to keep your shutter speed reasonably fast if you’re comparing moving objects. A steep perspective works in your favor so don’t space your foreground object too far to the side of your background object. Click away until you’re satisfied.
Just for comparison to the image above, below is the actual size relationship between Mr. Apache and my wide-angle zoom lens (which is generally about the size and weight of your average brick).
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