Jill Harness
Forced Perspective Photography
by Jill Harness - October 2, 2009 - 12:50 PM

forced perspective

Forced perspective photography combines an unlimited focus range with an expansive landscape to create a photo that your mind interprets to be real. The effect is a Photoshop-less photo forgery. Environmental Graffiti has collected a fantastic gallery of such images, including the one above by Alexandre Duarte.

The most famous subject for forced perspective imagery is the Leaning Tower of Pisa images displaying a person holding up the tower. Of course, when you tilt the camera even a few degrees in either direction, the perspective returns to normal. The tower is so popular for this type of photo that Cabinet of Wonder created a hilarious gallery of misaligned photos of tourists in tai chi-looking positions posing to hold up the tower.

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Comments (8)

  1. This reminds me of a picture I took of my hand grasping the Washington Monument, and another one where I was climing the side.

    posted by Steven on 10-2-2009 at 2:02 pm

  2. I have a great forced perspective photo of my daughter, about 5 at the time, “holding up” a balancing rock in Colorado!

    posted by Nerak on 10-2-2009 at 5:24 pm

  3. One of my favorite pictures of me is from my first trip to London. I’m at Buckingham Palace and I’m holding a very small guard.

    posted by Tricia on 10-2-2009 at 11:42 pm

  4. What the heck is going on between the legs of that guy in your picture in this post???? Chernobyl pubic hair?

    posted by David on 10-3-2009 at 12:54 am

  5. I have enjoyed photography as a hobby for 50+years. I own a Canon 20D and am a Scott Kelby fan. He is a great photoshop expert, yet emphasizes the importance of getting the best possible shot when taking the picture, to make your time in photoshop more enjoyable.The information here is incredible…Thanks a lot…

    posted by Cecil Tracey on 10-3-2009 at 8:32 am

  6. I got a great shot of my room mate while we were gallivanting around Central Park one time. She’s on top of a rock by the lake, and it looks like she’s as tall as one of the skyscrapers!

    posted by Megan on 10-4-2009 at 4:35 pm

  7. I have a picture where it appears I’m holding the Washington Monument in the palm of my hand. I love it!

    posted by Melodye on 10-4-2009 at 11:18 pm

  8. @ David

    The guy has a pair of winter gloves hanging from the pullstring of his jacket. Holy crap, your monitor must be worse than mine and my monitor is a 26-year-old TV set. (or you need glasses) :)

    posted by Tdave on 10-5-2009 at 11:07 am

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