Photo: abmiller99
Photo: abmiller99
Photo: stuant63
Photo: Photo: toastforbrekkie
Photo: Lorenia
Photo: lifecreations
Photo: ~Thanh
Photo: Alexandre Duarte
Photo: Photo: toastforbrekkie
From Gulliver’s Travels to Alice in Wonderland, the idea of people shrinking and growing has proven endlessly fascinating. What if, we wonder, we were that big or that small? Then along came mass produced cameras, and easy as eating a cake that says “EAT ME”, the more adroit shooters among us were able to realise just such size-shifting exploits – or at least the illusion of having done so. Places around the globe provide backdrops for these fine examples of forced perspective photography.
Size is everything: Salar de Uyuni
Bolivia’s Salar De Uyuni is a particularly conducive environment for photographers keen to test out their perspective-bending skills. The vast, expansive landscapes of the world’s largest salt plains have few features to shatter the illusion of big objects appearing small or small objects big.
Scots bonsai: Carrot Hill, Scotland
Taken in the Angus area of Scotland, this photo shows that with an isolated tree, a bit of imagination, and no little skill, you can pull the wool over the eyes of human perception. It's all about the way scaled objects are made to relate to one another and the viewer's vantage point.
Hot dog: Kennedy Space Center
This next pic could be construed as being be a little on the lewd side, but that's up to you. The Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida is the launch pad for the visual gag. It's a good job Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-121 Mission to the International Space Station wasn't launched when the photo was taken.
Ouch! Cape Canaveral
What is it about Kennedy Space Centre and high jinks with forced perspective? The flat background broken only by the instruments of space launches obviously inspires some people. This photo of a guy doing a good impersonation of a cheerleader even made it onto Japanese TV. Who'd have thought it?
Not amused: Peggy's Cove
Nova Scotia's Peggy's Cove provides the setting for this next addition to our list. This small rural community is nevertheless a busy tourist attraction, and its classic red-and-white lighthouse is major focal point for visitors carrying cameras. Believe it or not, it's almost 15 metres (50 ft) high.
Think big: Eiffel Tower
This touching shot makes aiming for the top not such a fanciful dream after all. The most famous landmark on the Parisian landscape is the perfect prop to make this little girl seem like a giant standing some 324 m (1,063 ft) tall. The low camera angle and large depth of field do the rest of the work.
Hangin' around: Perito Moreno
This shot was taken at the Perito Moreno glacier in the Argentine region of Patagonia. The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation is an important tourist attraction, and the sheets of frozen fresh water clearly offer ample opportunity for a little playfulness with visual perspective.
Blowing off steam: Old Faithful
This is one instance where you might safely accuse the subject of the photo of being full of hot air – except of course that it's Old Faithful, Yellowstone's most famous geyser, producing the steam for this gigantic breath. The creative snapping of nature's geothermal force delivers a cool result.
If you want to find out all the latest news on the environment, why not subscribe to our RSS feed?
64 comments
Markus Zeller (not verified) says:
Sep 9th, 2009 at 9pm
I've already seen some of them. They're really incredible done. I like that kind of art. Maybe you will find some more for a second post?
Mad Scientist (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 10am
Looks like there's been some photoshop work on the woman's shadow in the first photo, actually.
Cementtruck (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 1pm
#1 is "shopped". Smaller lady has had her shadow removed to complete the proportion:distance illusion .
dFever (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 1pm
First one is photoshopped. I can see marks where her shadow is removed :)
Anonymous (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 1pm
If these are not Photoshopped, then where is the woman's shadow in the first pic?
gandhy_370 (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 4pm
pretty cool, im going to try something like that
Lorenia (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 4pm
The Cape Canaveral one of the guy jumping over the launch pad is funnier when you know he's actually an engineer at KSC... and that he's the photographer of two of the other pictures you posted!
Manhattan (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 5pm
I love Photoshop, but what it's done to trick photography is murder. You can't look at a cool picture without suspicion anymore.
hobohippie (not verified) says:
Sep 10th, 2009 at 7pm
my friends and i love doing this kind of shots... but these photos are awesome! and oh, except for the first one.
Luke Jones (not verified) says:
Sep 11th, 2009 at 12am
They're cool. I particularly like the one of the girl touching the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Marcell (not verified) says:
Sep 11th, 2009 at 12am
that was amazing! It's all about the angles and the time.
Anthony (@GoISO) (not verified) says:
Sep 11th, 2009 at 1am
My favourite has to be the little girl reaching up for the Effiel Tower. These are clever photographs but I enjoy the twist on what is probably one of the most photographed landmarks in the world!
camaleon (not verified) says:
Sep 11th, 2009 at 3am
The woman at the lighthouse looks angry
Bed Demon (not verified) says:
Sep 11th, 2009 at 5am
excellent work!! its all about taste, height, distance, and ofcourse photography.
Jack (not verified) says:
Sep 11th, 2009 at 5pm
I think most of these could be construed as being a little on the lewd side. You REALLY should have thought these out better.
fccfu (not verified) says:
Sep 12th, 2009 at 7am
These are the most PHOTO-SHOPPED PICTURES I'VE EVER SEEN!!!
stephen okoronkwo (not verified) says:
Sep 12th, 2009 at 1pm
Wow! I am fascinated. Completely fascinated!!!
sasha (not verified) says:
Sep 12th, 2009 at 1pm
This photos shows us how we can be huge and in the same time how we are small
dandy (not verified) says:
Sep 13th, 2009 at 2pm
This is great really. I tried alot but couldn't handle even photoshop perspective transforms.
Regards.
The one (not verified) says:
Sep 13th, 2009 at 6pm
only one good picture in the lot your a bunch of amatures don't leave your day job guys!
See-ming Lee ??? SML (not verified) says:
Sep 13th, 2009 at 9pm
These are awesome!!! It's funny because they look almost like BAD photoshop jobs!
Renton (not verified) says:
Sep 14th, 2009 at 12pm
Awesome photos and a good idea for making even better souvenirs. By the way, you're good at making innuendos. Loved it. :)
createxplore (not verified) says:
Sep 15th, 2009 at 3am
nice ideas! I find forced perspective works great on most beaches too, a staple addition to any holiday/tourist portrait photographer - but so easy to do - like jump shots; get as low as you can and position the group a few meters in front of you, ask them to bend their knees and jump 'with character', can work nicely with a boat or landscape in the background, the subjects will look like super-human jumpers ;)
Jeff (not verified) says:
Sep 15th, 2009 at 3am
These are great. I think the rag doll by the hand shot is my favorite. I've been meaning to do these again. Here's some I did when I was probably 10: http://refr.us/8pkhyx
Matias (not verified) says:
Sep 15th, 2009 at 2pm
Cool photos! I have my own too! http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3038/n5085647223728836118.jpg
Nicolas Hoizey (not verified) says:
Sep 16th, 2009 at 2pm
If you like this, go now see my Flickr group: http://cas.im/ir/forced-perspective
michael (not verified) says:
Sep 18th, 2009 at 4am
These are all very well placed photos, some of them look amazing, but they all seem possible. Thanks for a really cool, different view of life.
SS (not verified) says:
Sep 19th, 2009 at 8am
Totally awesome! Going to try and take some photos like those.
Amarino França. (not verified) says:
Sep 24th, 2009 at 3pm
This is one of the best works in photography I've ever seen!
Riot (not verified) says:
Sep 30th, 2009 at 1pm
Some of these are photoshopped; its obvious. The shadow in the first one and poor clean up work in others.
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist (not verified) says:
these photos are cool! You forgot to mention the Taj Mahal-- if you stand at a particular angle about 20 (?) feet away, you could raise your hand, pretend to hold something, and it'll look like you're holding the Taj Mahal by its peak (the crescent on top of the dome).