Perspective Trick

I know your impressed, that is a huge sunflower. What would you guesstimate the height to be? 15 ft? It is actually about 10 ft. Maybe it doesn't actually look any bit extra tall to you, but it shows a very handy perspective trick that can be used to either mislead or emphasize a trait of the subject in the shot. And no, I was not trying to make my wife look short. If you want to make something look extra tall simply get closer to the ground, preferably closer to the subject, so that you will be shooting at a steeper angle to the object in focus. Even more effective is to place a object of known size, like your spouse, in front of the subject, close to the camera, to give a reference as to how much taller the subject is than them. This can be extra effective is one uses a wider angle lens with a larger aperture, so as to make the top of the tall subject slightly out of focus, as if infinity wasn't enough to grasp the height of your looming sunflower. Hunters and fishers use this trick all the time. Next time you get a Cabela's catalog or your facebook friend catches a "monster" check out their body in relation to the monster they just slayed. 9 times out of 10 the beast will be close to the camera and they will be holding it away from their body to make themselves look smaller behind it. So, if you can't catch a whopper with your lure, catch it with your camera instead. Happy deceiving!