Sunday, September 25, 2016

It's All About Perspective

Get Off Your Feet

Perspective could arguably be defined simply as a point of view.  One thing that makes photographs interesting is a different perspective.  Think about how many people either have a picture or look at Cinderella Castle from the perspective of standing or walking down Main Street.  I bet you can even imagine what this looks like in your own mind's eye as you read these words.  So that image you have in your mind is a pretty common perspective.  Not that we all don't love it, but it's kinda normal.


Here is a picture of the AT-AT Walker in front of Star Tours at Disney's Hollywood Studios.


This photo was taken just on the other side of the rope in the stand-by line.  To get this shot, I laid on the ground.  I used a wide angle lens with a 12mm focal length.  My camera is a Sony A6000 so with a 1.5x crop factor that makes it closer to an 18mm (35mm equivalent).  The rest of the settings were aperture set to f/8.0 , ISO 100, and the camera set the shutter speed to 1/800 sec.  So that's location and the technical side of this shot.

There are other benefits of trying different perspectives than just getting a view not many have seen.  When I take certain photos, I don't want people in the background.  Even though there were thousands of people in the park that day and several dozen walking by me while I laid on the ground to get this shot, there are no people visible in this photo.  On a personal note, while I had seen the "footprint" on the ground for years, until I got on my back to get this picture, I had no idea the pattern was on the bottom of the AT-AT Walker's foot.  Being a Disney fan, I enjoyed discovering that detail.  You gotta love Disney for those little details.

Getting down low is just one example of changing your perspective to get an interesting shot.  You can try the opposite which would be getting up really high and shooting down, or moving into corners and off-the beaten path where everyone usually walks.  Take things from different angles that most do see.  It may make rediscovering the parks a little more fun.