Why Using Ants View Perspective Can Take

Your Photography to the Next Level

A Post By: Megan Kennedy
Perspective is one thing that can make or break your image. Finding the right or a
unique perspective can help take your photography to the next level.

The problem
Imagine yourself walking down a path or street, camera in hand on a ne sunny
day. Suddenly, something peaks your photographic interest ahead. What do you
do? If you are a keen photographer, you stop dead in your tracks, stealthily raising
the camera to your eye. Your nger depresses the shutter button a few times and
you inspect the LCD monitor for exposure. Satised, you continue on your way,
keeping an eye out for the next photographic opportunity. This same routine
makes up the majority of your photographic practice, and it has for quite some
time.
Later, while revising your photographs, you have a sudden realization all your
recent images look eerily similar. In fact, icking through your catalog, you notice
the same thing in each photograph they are all taken from the exact same eyelevel perspective. Your camera settings were perfect, true, your exposure was dead
on. But viewed across a body of photographs, your work comes o tiresome,
repetitive, dispassionate even. And it all comes down to perspective.

Getting perspective
Like many things in life, photography can become habitual. Its easy to get stuck in
a rut without realizing it. Our rst foray into photography begins with camera
operation focus, shutter speed, aperture and ISO and once we have a handle
on that, we then move on to the ins and outs of photographic composition. Yet,
although we retain the basics of operating a camera, its the composition theory
that often gets left to the wayside. This is why many photographers work suers
from repetitivity,even though perspective is one of they easiest and most eective
ways of switching up your photographic composition.
Perspective involves training your eye to recognizeunique opportunities and to
emphasize them by positioning your camera. Climbing up trees, laying on your
belly, poking your lens through holes in fences perspective means getting
physical with your photographic practice.Of course, there are circumstances
where the average camera angle shot is going to work just ne. But keep in mind

that the perspective of a photograph is always a choice dont waste the chance to
create a unique photograph by deferring to the traditional eye-level shot.

Placing my camera on the ground to catch the unusual angel of light that
was reecting o the rain-soaked road yielded some eye-catching results.

Drop it like its hot

Often photography is about nding that unique point of view and investigating a
subject from a creative angle. Physically altering the positioning of the camera is
agreat way to get you thinking about perspective, and low angle photography can
yield amazing results. The lower the camera, the more dramatic the eect, so
dont be afraid to experiment with the positioning of your camera.It may seem
counterintuitive to place an expensive camera on the ground, but as one of my
favorite perspective techniques, sometimes getting a little dirty is worth it.

From a low angle at the beach, I was able to pick up the ecks of light
coming o the sand. I was also able to add some context to the origin of
this large piece of seaweed.
Set your camera to auto or to a suitable manual exposure suitable for the subject.
A great advantage of this type of photography is that the ground makes for a
lovely, steady tripod, so be sure to experiment with slow shutter speeds. Place the
camera down on the ground rememberthe lower the camera, the more dramatic
the eect. You can use a plastic bag beneath the camera to protect it if you want.
To avoid more editing later, placing the camera on a level surface is a good idea
too.

Some examples

Here is an average shot, with my lens positioned at a mid to high angle over
this cute little guy. The image looks unresolved and impersonal.

Photographed with my camera resting on the line of stones. This

photograph depicts the rabbit from his point of view. It tells more of a story
about the life of a small critter in a large world. Although timid, this rabbit
was much happier for me to get close to him from a low angle approach.

Sometimes you can get away with a bustling streetscape if you nd a stoop
or rest-stop along the way.

How to see what youre shooting

One of the tricky aspects of ground-level photography is the awkward angle of the
viewnder. Unless you are laying on the ground, or have a swivel screen, seeing
what you are photographing can be dicult. Blind shootingor working without the
viewnder lendsa refreshing opportunity to think creatively without holding the
reigns too tightly. A trial and error approach is ideal. Check the LCD monitor after
every few photographs to make sure you are getting the images you want. Set your
aperture, shutter speed and ISO in line with the results yielded by the monitor.

Photographed at a popular shrine in Japan. I wanted to document this

tourist-heavy location by doing something dierent. The camera on the
ground approach is an easy but eective way of setting your work apart.

An ants eye view

Photographing from such a low point of view isnt just funfor the photographer.
Unusual perspectives impact the experience of the viewer or audience too. From
the low perspective, the ground and the horizon either intersect or sandwich the
subject material, creating emphasis and guiding the eye around the image. When
these planes come together abruptly, they also draw attention to the composition
of the environment.
The unusual perspective of ground-level photography also makesobjects in the
foreground appear larger compared to the background, mirroring our own
perception. By enhancing the depth of the image, the image appeals to the human
eye because it is both familiar and unusual at the same time.

By investigating perspective, the photograph tells a story in greater detail, creating

a more resolved photograph.

Conclusion
Playing with perspectiveis a really simple way of making your images more
dynamic.In fact, its a little addictive!
As soon as you get a handle for ground-level photography, youll start to notice
other unique photographic opportunities around you. There arent many people
who get the chance to investigate a scene from the ground up. But as
photographers, we have the tools and the know-how to photograph unusual
perspectives and share them with the world. Dont be afraid to get physical with
the environment around you to get that master shot. And dont be (too) afraid to
put your camera on the ground once in a while.

The crooked path in this photograph lends itself to the history of the
memorial sites in the photograph
1585

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Megan Kennedy is a photographer and writer based in Canberra, Australia. A lifelong

fascination with ight has inspired her photographic practice in documenting the
intricate form of aircraft. Megan is also interested in travel photography and
documenting human interaction with the modern landscape, through both intentional
and incidental intervention. She is well versed in both digital and lm practice. Both her
writing and photography has been featured in numerous publications.

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Dave a day ago

The problem is/was, none of those pictures were interesting. Especially the Japanese shrine. It
looks like it was taken by a high school intro to photography student.

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Steve Ramsey

> Dave

17 hours ago

Dave, can you point me in the direction of your articles on DPS? I thought these photos
illustrated the point the article was making really well.

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> Dave a day ago

Filip Ili

The one with the rabbit is interesting thou. :)

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