Super Exaggeration of Perspective T
he fundamental and underlying ingredient to good composition is a strong graphic design, meaning shapes, and what comprises strong graphic design are bold, artistic, and dramatic lines. One of the best ways to create strong graphic lines is to use an extreme wide angle lens. For example, in the shot below of the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I used a 24mm focal length on a 16-35mm lens. For the shot of junker cars on the next page, to exaggerate the front end I shot with a 14mm wide angle lens.
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The secret to seriously exaggerating perspective, and thereby accentuating the dynamic shapes and lines in the foreground, is to place the camera very close. Most of the time the camera-subject distance should be 2 to 4 feet to create the exaggeration of perspective shown below. With the cathedral interior image on page 9, I used a 14mm lens positioned about 5 inches from the foreground edge of the holy water. The exceptionally close proximity not only made the water appear to be disproportionately large compared to the background, but the
