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We all love taking pictures and sharing it with the world, as shown by the popularity of image sharing websites like Instagram and Facebook. We just like to have fun, get creative, and snap away. I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find a forced perspective picture taken by anyone who have ever held a camera and seen one on these pictures.
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Creative and interesting ideas for forced
perspective trick photography Written by Jim T May (http://trick-photography.org)
We all love taking pictures and sharing it with the world, as shown by the popularity of image
sharing websites like Instagram and Facebook. We just like to have fun, get creative, and snap
away. I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find a forced perspective picture taken by anyone
who have ever held a camera and seen one on these pictures.
I'm talking about the "impossible" pictures of people holding a mini-sized person on the palm of
their hands, or "giant" tourists seen to be pushing or hugging the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the
age of photoshop these kinds of photos might not be very surprising anymore, but the fact is
that it is all done just with creative framing of the camera and some trial and error poses.
Sooner or later, you will be tempted to try it, so here are some great ideas to get you started.
Hangman or mini-me
This is one of the more common ideas that people will try, but when you execute it well, it is
still incredibly satisfying. The idea is to create a picture where you're holding or picking up a
miniature person with your hand or fingers. To do this well, you need maximum distance and
depth of field. You need to get the camera very close to the person who is holding the
miniature people. Then have the miniature person to stand and pose as far away as possible
while still being in acceptably sharp focus. If one of the person is in very sharp focus but the
other is not then it ruins the illusion, so get a good compromise so that they match in
sharpness. Have the larger person in the foreground hold up their hand and fingers as if they're
picking up a very small object. For the mini person, hide a coat hanger or a stick under their
shirt so that the shirt appears to poke out. Frame your camera to match the fingers and the tip
of the shirt that is poking out and you have a picture of a giant person picking up a mini person
by their shirt!
Russian nested dolls
This works best if you and a group of people are standing on an open and very flat area like a
desert or on the beach, where the horizon stretches to infinity. Setup the camera and have
each person stand and pose at an evenly spaced distance from the camera as well as from each
other. Make them all have the exact same pose and pointing to the same direction. The result is
you get is an interesting forced perspective picture of a group of people, each smaller than the
other, with the same pose looking like a series of Russian nested dolls.
Playing with the sun
The sun, as depicted in photographs are often evocative and expressive due to the warm
colours and emanating glow during sunset or sunrise. If you find yourself with a camera during
this golden hour of photographic opportunity, why not take a picture where you or your subject
is interacting directly with the sun? Hold a pose, such as kicking a soccer ball and move your
camera so the sun is where the ball should be. You could also hide the sun behind your
subject's head, but with the rays of light clearly visible and spreading out to suggest
enlightenment.
There are no limits on how creative you can be with forced perspective. Instead of just taking
another picture of a landmark on your travels, or a smiling group photo, you can really liven
things up with some imagination and great ideas to create that next great forced perspective
picture!
Expand your mind and get more creative in your photography as I take you on a tour of the
web's best ideas in photography in my newsletters, click here now to sign up!
Jim blogs about trick photography and special effects techniques, that people use to create stunning
photographs. You can sign up at his Trick Photography site to receive a free report on the top 10 trick
photography ideas for travel photos. Please feel free to share this document with your family and
friends if you think it’ll interest them, thanks!