Viewpoints?

Hi guys.

 

In trying to take better photos, I've been thinking about viewpoints lately.

 

 

I was thinking that maybe the eye-level is important. If I were doll-sized, Hibiki would obviously be very short compared to me, so if I was taking a photo while standing up (if I were a doll), I'd be looking down on her.

 

To take the photo on the left, if I were a doll, I'd have to be crouching to get the camera at her waist-level. If I wanted the photo at her eye-level, I'd have to be stooped over slightly (if I were a doll!) - which wouldn't look natural to the viewer I guess, unless she was on steps, etc.

 

If she was sitting in a chair, crouching would get me to just below her eye-level, standing would be looking way down on top of her head unless I was further away.

 

And taking a photo when you're looking right down on top of her would make her look very tiny in the world, making the scale more apparent; unless it was a photo of sleeping, etc.

 

You can see from my example pictures that the perspective changes the apparent proportions massively. The left makes her legs look long and her head kinda short. The right makes her head look huge, and I suppose makes her look more like a kid? I think the right has a more natural feel to it, though.

 

 

So yeah, I was wondering if anyone took their photos thinking about the viewpoint in that way? Or do you think it doesn't matter so much?

It always matters, even when making the photos of real people.

In the very old photo books from the era of b&w film cameras there are already informations about viewpoints, view angles and such because this didn't change from the beginning of times

So yes - I'm always thinking about this.

And rarely take a photo from above the doll's eye-level when they stand, because all my girls are "grown-ups" and this will at once show them as "dolls". Going lower with the view, You can in a way go inside their world.

I think, on the photo this may make the difference between "doll" and "person". It may completely change the mood and feelings going from the picture.

As Kumi said, to keep things in a traditional model photography style, keeping the camera at the dolls eye-level (or thereabout) helps to make the illusion that it might not be a doll afterall.

 

For instance for my "ghetto studio" I build a temporary platform at about a meters height so I can more comfortably work with the camera.

 

But for a photo story, I tend to throw this concept out of the window, and try to be like a movie director, and keep the perspective interesting if possible, and try my best to get what I want into frame.

 

But all in all, I dont really know is there an absolute right or wrong concept for perspective, then again I just go by feel, and am no professional... heh.