Foreshortening.

If you take a photograph of a number of widely spaced objects using a long telephoto lens you’ll notice that the objects seem to be crammed together in the final photograph. This change in perspective is called foreshortening of distance.

A common example of this is a shot of cars on a busy road, which all look bunched together. A common cliché variant in 1970s movies was the ever-popular Hollywood street photo, in which lines of receding palm trees, all apparently crammed together because of foreshortening, vanish in the heat haze beneath the Hollywood sign.

cf. focal length, telephoto lens.

Entry last updated 2002-04-05. Term 531 of 1487.

Previous term: foot-candle.

Next term: forming gas.

 

This document is copyright © 2002-2013 NK Guy, PhotoNotes.org. This information is provided with neither warranties nor claims of accuracy or completeness of any sort. Use this information at your own risk. All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

You may copy and print this document for your own personal use. You may not, however, reprint or republish this work, in whole or in part, without prior permission from me, the author. Such republication includes inclusion of this work in other Web sites, Web pages, FTP archives, books, magazines or other periodicals, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM compilations or any other form of publication or distribution. Please do not frame this site within another.

Please send comments or error reports using the feedback form.