Perspective and Camera Position

Botero Guardian. Denver, Colorado, 2012

Generally, when we capture an image with our camera, we are holding the device at roughly eye level, say, five feet off of the ground and directed horizontally out over the landscape. But, this is how we always see the world as we walk around in it. So, this point-of-view is not particularly original and photographs thus created can sometimes lack a bit of originality–depending, of course, on the subject matter.

One easy and fun solution is to experiment with camera position to change your perspective. The newer cameras with the articulating LCD can make this a lot easier. Try lying down on the ground, or kneeling…shoot flowers from below instead of above…climb up onto your roof or onto a high building and shoot down…move to where you can line up two unrelated objects to form an unusual or humorous composition…capture images of your kids down low from their point of view, not up high as adults see things…get close, real close to your subject…hold the camera high over your head or even use a cable remote and put your camera on a ten-foot extension pole!

Often, such experiments will yield images that are different enough to really hold the viewers attention.

Again, my two images (above and below) are my efforts to generate interest through a slightly unusual perspective gained through a different camera position. Just about every famous photographer from Ansel to Margaret Bourke-White to Andreas Gursky (creator of the most expensive photograph ever sold at $4.3 million) have used and continue to use unusual camera angles as a fundamental technique in the creative process.