Viewpoints

1. Viewpoints
and
Camera Angles

2. Eye Level Shot
• It’s the natural way to view the
person.
• We’re seeing eye-to-eye with the
person.
• We feel equal status and power with
them, like a peer.
• Encourages the viewer to identify
with the subject.
In the case of objects and scenes that exist above our usual position, like a kite caught in a
tree, or objects and scenes typically below us, like toys lying on the floor, the level camera
angle brings us up or down to experience that scene as if we’re part of it.

3. Slightly High Angle (good for portraits)
• Recommend taking when head shots, usually
just above the subject’s eye level.
• The eyes will seem larger and more
emphasised because they are closer to the
camera.
• Causes the nose, lower face, chin, and
especially the body, to appear smaller, which
might be the desired effect for some subjects.
• The person’s hair will also be emphasised.

4. High Camera Angle (portrait)
A higher camera angle, while
shooting straight downward
onto the subject looking up,
might result in the popular
caricature portrait where the
top of the head and eyes are
obviously exaggerated, while
the much smaller body and
legs seem to jut comically
out of the head.
A wide angle lens amplifies
the quirky and sometimes
humorous effect.

5. High Camera Angle (portrait)
High camera angles work well to enhance
the idea that the subject is submissive,
humiliated, vulnerable, powerless, fallen,
being beaten down, or injured.

6. High Camera Angle (landscape)
• Taken from
significantly high
camera angles, a
photo can create
sensations of
freedom or
superiority.
• The viewer can take
in the whole scene
without
obstructions.
• The viewer
becomes the
unseen observer,
uninvolved, distant.

7. Bird’s Eye View
• The “bird’s eye view” shows a scene
from directly overhead at a very high
position, as from a high building or
airplane.
• Once familiar scenes might at first be
unrecognisable and abstract from
this strange and unnatural point of
view.
• You see large, expansive areas
compacted into a small field of view.
• Everything looks small, flattened, and
squat, even things that your
conscious mind knows are massive,
like mountains, trees and buildings.
People seem insignificant, as if they
are ants.

8. Slightly Low Angle
If you shoot a full length portrait of a
standing person from your standing
position, then the subject will tend to
look a bit unnaturally squat, assuming
you’re about the same height of that
person.
when taking full length portraits of a
standing subject, place the camera at
the centre of the framed shot, which
means shooting at a slightly low
angle. So, if you were shooting a full-
length portrait of a person, place the
camera at about the subject’s waist
level, which is the centre of the frame
that you see in the viewfinder.
When you take the shot from a
slightly lower angle, below the waist
level, the person will appear taller.
Be aware of the possible negative effect of looking up someone’s nose.

9. Low Camera Angle (portraits)
• Creates the feeling that the subject is big, high, powerful, dominant, imposing,
authoritative, or menacing.
• The viewer of low camera angle photos might feel weak, powerless, insecure, helpless, or
overwhelmed in relation to the subject.
• Low camera angles of a person or object above us tends to isolate the subject from the
surroundings.
• Low angle might be disorienting.

10. Low Camera Angle (landscape)
• In cities or landscapes, the very
low camera angle can create
feelings of awe, wonder,
excitement, or being
overwhelmed by the grandeur of
one’s surroundings.
• Ordinary aspects of the
environment not noticed or
appreciated from a standing
position, especially the underside
of things, now take on intensified
importance.
• An expansive scene that provides
us the background context of
where this subject fits in.

11. Rat’s Eye View
(also called worm’s eye view)
• A very low camera angle will help the
viewer appreciate the scene from the
perspective of a cat, dog, or insect.
• Objects look huge.
• This is an unnatural viewpoint that
creates an unusual scene.

12. The Rear Angle Shot
• Shooting from behind subjects will most likely
create the impression that they are not aware of
our presence – unless they are looking over their
shoulder at us.
• The rear angle tends to be a discrete, secretive
approach to the subject.
• The viewer my feel physically and emotionally
distant from the subject.

13. Tilted Angles
Also called “dutch” angles because they originated in German (“Deutsch”) cinema
• We usually experience the world as
lines and shapes organized in
relationship to the ground or a
surface that is horizontally level. If
you tilt a camera to one side or
another while taking a shot, the
resulting photo portrays a scene
that appears unnaturally slanted up
or down.
• the composition creates a dynamic
feeling of energy and movement.
• A tilted camera angle tends to
create sensations of disorientation,
imbalance, danger, tension or
confusion.

14. Close Up (macro photography)
• With extreme close ups or
macro photography, where
we might feel that we are
merging with, losing
ourselves in, or becoming
engulfed by the subject
• We might lose sight of what
the subject is, as in some
forms of abstract
photography.
• The identity of the subject
itself is no longer the
objective of the
photograph, but rather the
intricate colours, patterns,
tones, and textures that
comprise the subject.

15. Close Up (portrait)
• The close up shot helps
the viewer intimately
experience the emotions
and state of mind of the
person in the shot.
• The close-up works well
in revealing the
personality of subjects,
or the essence of some
aspect of who they are
as a person.

16. Cropping • Improve overall composition.
• Focus on the main subject.
• Remove distracting elements.
• Create a dynamic and
unexpected composition.

17. Part Obscured shot
• Photographing Through or around an object
• Gives the feeling of spying on the subject.
• Adds to the depth and perspective of an
image.
• Creates an unusual composition.