The Old Dog Advises: Don't Forget to Give Your Photographs Scale!
Like many of you I am fascinated by much in this world around me, from the colossal to the minute. Usually when we examine something we can understand the size of it by using something in the surroundings to give it scale, for example a human, a house and so on.
Some Common Mistakes That Are Made
Some years ago I was studying a scientific textbook and there was a chapter on the Giant Sequoia tree. The point was made that the biggest trees in the world come from some of the smallest seed. Two images were then shown, one of the tree and one of the seed from which it came. The photograph of the seed was shown in a way to demonstrate scale whereas the tree was not. The impact that the images should have had was thus lost!
This is my own re-creation of what i saw in the textbook. Notice that the seed shows scale but the tree doesn't! The first image is from pixabay.com and the second is from here.
Look at The Difference When The Giant Sequoia is Given Scale!
Here is a picture of my sister-in-law when she visited the States. Notice how this picture shows scale.. and how!
Another Example Where Scale is Needed
These are the leaves of the giant Gunnera Manicata which is of the rhubarb family. How do we know it's giant? Photo credit pixabay.com
The same leaf with a human to give it scale. That's better! Image source
What Are Some Tiny Examples Right Here on Steemit?
One of our members @oceansoul13 was running a contest called the Tiny Art Challenge in which she was asking for just that, tiny art.
Here is an entry by @airmatti who is one of our Italian speaking Steemers and the designer of our Steemit Trading Cards.
Here are some cool Star Wars sketches that @airmatti did but how do we know that they're tiny? Why give then scale of course!
Now that's more like it! We can really see how tiny these portraits are!
Here's another example from the same contest. Notice how the coin makes the size of the drawing not only instantly recognizable by all the more impresive! The picture is by Lorraine Loots.
What do You Think?
- Do you see the importance of giving some photographs scale?
- Can you see how the Giant Sequoia tree shown in the textbook was ineffective?
- What photos have you taken that show scale?
I hope that you enjoyed this article about not forgetting to give your photographs scale!
Until next time,
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)
Very nice and interesting post. You bring up a good point. I find this subject very interesting as it deals with human psychology and how we interpret things.
I think this knowledge is important in order to get the right impact when people see your images. In the same time that scale offers an interpretation, contrast can offer focalization in art or photography and can make a huge difference.
Just like in life if there is not a contrast we have nothing to compare to and thus we can not understand or appreciate something. Much like a spoiled kid that gets whatever he points on will find himself depressed and bored later because he has no contrast to how it could be to really have to fight for these things and how hard they can be to come by.
It's the first time I see such a huge leaf. I wonder how many rhubarb pies you could make with those ones in the picture ? My grandma used to make me rhubarb pie a lot when I was younger maybe I will plant one of these big boys in her back yard to see her reaction hehe .
What a great comment! It's even longer than my post and so I will upvote it as such! Yes rhubarb pies are awesome!
Wow !! Thank you so much :) I usually don't write such long comments but because the post struck a cord with me it just kind of poored out like that :)
A giant rhubarb pie was the first thing I thought of when seeing that photo as well. I'm sure we'd all love to demonstrate the scale of our appetites in relation to a giant rhubarb pie.
I don't think that I quite get it yet :-)
Could you do a part 2?
Thats something else then always those god... whales..;-) let start the elephant contest also... I am the small one in the front..lol..
Would you like to consider to vote for me as witness... started a couple of days ago.. and I hope this can bring me dream come true.. Just consider it.. and thx anyhow.
Just keep re-reading the post over and over and over again and let the pictures sink in as you do so. Eventually it will come to you! :)
Thx again for your support. Man I love the commitment you have on the platform... I did my best the last 117 days. https://steemit.com/steemit/@rival/rival-new-milestone-today-i-reached-1000-sp-in-117-days
Would you please consider to vote for me as witness. I would be very very thankful. Your vote can really change my future.. it's free and you have 30 votes in total... No is also an answer, no problem..
so funny..Scale is a great technique to improve your images and shouldn't be overlooked. You can even have fun with it like this. As humans we need scaled to know how large and small the surround world is. In photography it helps us to enjoy the image instead of adding mental work to figure out the size of various elements.
Zoom the photo to see the same small leaf
Your example is awesome! Thanks a lot for sharing it!
Very interesting article :)))
We need scales sometimes, as in the #tinyartchallenges. Otherwise the photo has no impact. But there is another tool, if you take macro photographs. This is the depth of field! The less the DOF the more the object looks tiny, like this blue flower.
Sometimes, I also play with tiltshift, like this:
This is the view of Budapest but looks like a mock-up.
Thanks for your article, because I became inspired again! Maybe my next article will be about optical illusion!
I like your example and I also love to play with depth of field. Good to know that you're inspired!
This is my first article about illusion in art: https://steemit.com/art/@kalemandra/warning-if-you-only-believe-in-your-eyes-your-brain-can-be-easily-deceived-post-1-art
Sit down please
Together..... All ,....
Very good!
Only with this normal chair, one can see how small these people are ;-)...and even the dog!
It's incredible how we can be deceived by a picture based on what we already now! We might think something is small because we se some similar objects around, but in fact that one is not or vice versa! There where many interesting answers to the post showing this! It remembered me that I once saw some pictures of a special place where due to his lack of refernece the prespective goes to die: the salar de Uyuny, a 10000 square kilometers salt desert and here's a picture shwoing what I mean:
Questa foto di Salar de Uyuni è offerta da TripAdvisor.
Thank a lot for the mention and showing my work as a reference!!!
Very cool. Thanks for the photo!
wow those leafs are giant! i mean look at how tiny your head looks!
Yes they are most impressive!
Thank you for another interesting view.
Thanks to you for having a look!
So we have a little stone
Nooo,.. its big
Sure we do need scale, and especially in the mountains, there it is very hard to see the scale
That's a really fun example of scale fooling us! Fabulous!
hello dear @kus-knee,very informative article about the importance of scale for better result of any picture, thats awsome technique used professional photographers. i impressed from your scale using taken pictures. thanks and keep it up for more informative posts.
Thanks so much for taking the time to both visit and comment!
dear i always visit your posts regularly, thanks for your positive response on my comment...