John Steiner zero’s in on three tools that shape visual space in photography; perspective, depth and scale. Perspective provides an accurate impression of the height, width, depth, and position of subjects in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point. Immediately my mind went to this photo I took from the Lincoln Memorial, looking across to the Washington Monument and its reflection at dusk in December, 2006.

John comments that though the tools sound technical, “they are incredibly intuitive once you look for them, and you’ll likely find you’ve been using them all along.” That certainly is true of the photo above. I looked out and said, OMG, take this picture while you can!

Depth in photography means the image creates an illusion of three dimensions. Below, a beautiful clear summer day at Crater Lake National Park provided this picture perfect image. Another “right place, right time” moment.

Scale is helpful to show the relative size or dimension of a subject. This huge rock on Orcas Island, WA might have seemed just a big bolder, even with the trees in the background. I decided adding a known item – my water bottle – would provide a clue to just how big this thing was!

Thanks to John, for continuing to remind us of the importance of fundamentals!

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾