Come Farther and Go Nearer
Something different lately, I’ve been playing with distances. When photographing a subject with a background subject, the distance of the photographer from the main subject and the zoom of the camera can result in photos with the same sized main subject, but different sized background object.
Maybe that’s confusing to say. I’ll let my photos do the talking for me.
Consider three figures. Chika, the black-haired girl in the background, plays the part of the background subject. Typically this will be something large and distant. It may be a moutain, or the Statue of Liberty. In the middle is Ana, the blond-haired girl. She plays the part of the main subject. This is typically a person, but may be an object. The bleached-orange-haired girl, Miu, acts as the photographer.
During these photos, the positions between Ana (the main subject) and Chika (the background subject) will not change. Only two factors will change from one set of photos to the next: 1) The position of Miu (the photographer) relative to Ana (the main subject), and 2) the camera’s zoom.
| Miu standing closer to Ana | Miu standing midway distance | Miu standing farther from Ana |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
| N/A |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
As Miu (the photographer) moves further away from Ana (the subject), it appears that Chika (the background subject) becomes bigger! She becomes bigger because of zooming, but the visual position between Miu and Ana is mostly sustained. Even though Miu is moving the same distance from Chika as she is Ana, Chika is already farther away to begin with, and zooming appears to have a bigger effect for her. Or is this just a trick to my eyes?
I need to try this again with an actual large background image. I believe I can create a more noticeable effect this way.
By the way, here is Miu playing with a video camera, and zooming in on a car. How will she ever avoid the very distant zoomed-in-close oncoming vehicle?
I will continue to experiment with distances.