Scale and proportion

The scale of a subject refers to its size, and its proportion is seen in comparison with another subject. With this in mind, the scale of a subject becomes critical to the balance of your photograph and the proportion is crucial for the viewer to be able to understand the comparative sizes of the subjects. It can be fun not to provide a reference point for proportion, thus deceiving the viewer.

Control of the proportion in your pictures comes through the position from which you shoot and, in particular, your choice of focal length of lens.

Anyone who has visited the Sydney Harbour Bridge would be aware that the Opera House is a relatively small structure when seen in its true perspective against the bridge [ 120/43 mm, f 5.6, 1/30 sec., tripod and self-timer].

This image portrays the Opera House as being almost as high as the bridge. The reason for this illusion of scale is that a telephoto lens was used for the shot. The longer focal length has decreased depth of field, effectively compressing scale, so the bridge is apparently directly behind the Opera House and their relative sizes are distorted [120/150 mm, f4, 1/30 sec., tripod and self-timer].