Using scale as a frame of reference.

Scale is an important concept in photography.  It can be used to provide precision or to deceive.  The above photo is a good example.  I found the skull on a walk at Pitt Poulder in Maple Ridge last year.  It measured less than two inches from back to front, yet there is the illusion of it being from a large carnivore.  A lot of that comes from the fact that it fills most of the frame vertically, from the large canine teeth it possesses, and from the relative size of the perplexed scientist beside it.

I knew it to be from a member of the weasel family when I found it.  In order to facilitate the illusion of it being large, I needed three things.  Any reference to its actual size had to be eliminated.  That meant blurring the background so the grass didn't give away its diminutive nature.  Secondly, the actual image had to fill the frame to make it appear large.  That was just a matter of cropping.  Lastly, there needed to be something relatively large beside it to provide a scale reference.  That was the purpose of the scientist.  Together the three factors gave the illusion of it being very large.  Throwing some text in there to further misdirect you hopefully furthered the ruse.

Skull of the least weasel.  The blade of a knife is provided for scale.

The photo above is the same skull shown in an entirely different manner.  The background is not blurred, the skull is relatively small compared to the size of the image, and the blade of a knife is included in the shot for scale.  And the text is gone.  Immediately one would presume that this is the skull of some small, woodland creature.  The small size, long canines, and sharp molars tell of it being a member of the weasel family.  

Scale can be manipulated in a number of ways.  Ultra-wide-angle lenses, such as a 16 mm (relative) are useful in creating this effect.  Tilt/shift lenses can also produce the effect by creating the illusion of miniaturization.  Then there is the trickery that I pulled; placing something disproportionate in size to the subject to suggest that the item is smaller or larger than what it actually is.  A six-inch Godzilla besides a five-inch model office building gives the monster a sense of enormity.  Put a standard ruler in the photo and the illusion is lost.

So, were you conned into believing the skull was enormous or did you easily see through the ruse?  Hopefully, you found a bit of fun in the exercise.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com