Beware of Big-headed Babies
It seems that my little faux pas have been quite good for blog topics lately, so here is one more. With the move back to a full frame SLR like the D3, I have run into wide-angle distortion, a bad habit of mine which only popped up once in a while in my film days. In my film days it was not that bad because the widest lens I owned was a 24-mm and I only really had a problem if I was right up next to someone. Then his or her head would get a slightly alien look to it, depending on the angle from which I shot the person.
Today, I have a full frame D3 and a 17-35mm lens and this leads to even more alien heads and curved perspectives on interior room shots. It can also lead to things like hands, forearms and feet being greatly exaggerated.
I think the culmination of this happened this week when I had to make a shot of a daddy boot camp for new fathers. As usual, it was a rush job; that and the fact that I had to work with babies who simply would not follow direction (how dare they) led partially to my mistake. But I will take most of the blame. I had to make a portrait of the babies, their daddies and the instructor.
You can see from the slightly altered image above that the babies’ heads are a little big. I actually think that babies have big heads and that shot did not look that off, but others disagreed. The original shot I turned in (not shown) was made at 22-mm and looked OK to me, but others thought they had big heads. It certainly got some laughs in the newsroom. My wife says they look like Cabbage Patch Kids. The second shot, above, was made at 26mm.
My fellow photographer J Henson was kind enough to enhance the above image with Stewie Griffin’s head.
Today, I have a full frame D3 and a 17-35mm lens and this leads to even more alien heads and curved perspectives on interior room shots. It can also lead to things like hands, forearms and feet being greatly exaggerated.
I think the culmination of this happened this week when I had to make a shot of a daddy boot camp for new fathers. As usual, it was a rush job; that and the fact that I had to work with babies who simply would not follow direction (how dare they) led partially to my mistake. But I will take most of the blame. I had to make a portrait of the babies, their daddies and the instructor.
You can see from the slightly altered image above that the babies’ heads are a little big. I actually think that babies have big heads and that shot did not look that off, but others disagreed. The original shot I turned in (not shown) was made at 22-mm and looked OK to me, but others thought they had big heads. It certainly got some laughs in the newsroom. My wife says they look like Cabbage Patch Kids. The second shot, above, was made at 26mm.
My fellow photographer J Henson was kind enough to enhance the above image with Stewie Griffin’s head.
So this week’s lesson from Paul is to watch out for big-headed babies - they will get you in trouble every time. Just kidding. Watch out for wide-angle distortion, whether it is in people, landscapes, or interiors. Sometimes the distortion can look cool and is an effect I use on purpose, like the image below. But with a regular portrait of children, it can look weird.
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By the way, I'll try to view your photoblog more now that I know about it. I like it so far.