The Power of Perspective

This chapter covers one of the most important aspects of taking a nature photograph, which is to convey 3D depth of a flat picture to the human eye. Out in the real world with two eyes we can move to see a view from multiple angles. Unless done carefully, a single shot of a view is cannot convey the same meaning to the human eye. To take a shot that will convey this, emphasis needs to be placed on anything that shows depth.
Use the size of objects in the scene to act as markers for distance. Objects that are close seem large and objects that are small seem far away. You can use animals, flora, rock formations. If possible it is best to to let these receding objects lead to the main point of focus. Anything with a pattern can be used to show distance as one end of the pattern fades away.
The type of angle lens used can work with the size of objects to emphasize distance or closeness. A wide angle lens will make the objects seem farther apart. Telephoto lenses will seemingly compress the picture together. With either of these it is best to take your shot as near as you can to the first size object marker.
To mimic the height a person would normally see a veiw from, place the camera at a 45 degree angle above the horizontal line. While setting up your camera try to avoid overlap. Focus your camera in the middle of the nearest object marker.
If you do overlap, try to overlap with objects with contrast, so their is no muddling on which is which.
The best way to present a landscape is with it lit from the side. The best time to do this, as with most photography, is early or late in the day. Atmoshpere blurring such as fog, pollution, or rain can be played on to create the sense of what is close and what is far.
The five types of planes to look for when searching for deep perspective shots are as follows;
1. The closest plane shows interesting landscape details that set the scale for the composition;
2.the middle plane has good objects as size markers to draw the eye into the view
3.the feature plane shows the main interest
4. Clouds are ideally puffy
5.the sky plane in back are in pure shades to backdrop the scene.