Point of view

Learning goal

You will be able to see how the height at which you hold the camera shows a subject differently, and choose camera height deliberately. You will explain that eye level gives a familiar and equal look; you will recognize the tendency of a low angle to enlarge the subject, make the sky the backdrop and stir a feeling of power in most viewers, and the tendency of a high angle to shrink the subject, make the ground the backdrop and stir a feeling of fragility; you will see that a bird's-eye view looking straight down turns the scene into a map; you will know that photographing a person from above or below says something about them; and as the angle changes, you will read which areas of the face the light falls on, on every skin, so that detail stays in the eyes.

The question

In a neighborhood park, you are photographing a little girl swinging on a swing and her grandfather pushing her from behind. In the frame you take standing, from your own eye level, the girl is small, the grandfather big, and behind them the park is a scattered crowd. When you crouch down to the girl's level, she suddenly comes right into the frame. When you go even lower and shoot from a place close to the ground, the swing seems to fly toward the sky; the girl looks big and brave in front of a blue sky, her feet in the air.

How does crouching change a photo? Moving the camera from chest height to knee height or to the top of a staircase changes both what you see and how what you see looks. In this lesson we will talk about camera height, eye level, low and high angles, and what these decisions say about a person.

Context

Most photographs are taken from the height at which the photographer stands, from eye or chest level. This is the easiest and most habitual way; but the viewer is already used to seeing the world from this height, and that is why most of these frames look familiar, and sometimes ordinary. In the lesson on layers we crouched to find a foreground; this lesson looks at crouching and rising themselves.

Camera height doesn't only change the subject's shape; it also changes the backdrop that comes behind it, the light that falls on it, and the relationship the viewer builds with the subject. Looking at a subject from below, from above or from its own level places the viewer somewhere in relation to it. Which height to choose is not a rule but a decision about the relationship you want to tell.

Simple explanation

What does eye level give?

Eye level is the camera being at the same height as the subject's eyes. This gives the viewer an equal relationship with the subject; they look neither from above nor from below. When photographing an adult, this usually means standing. But for children, animals or seated people, eye level calls for the photographer to bend, crouch, or lie on the ground.

When you photograph a small child standing, from your own level, you see them from above: the top of their head big, their legs short, the ground behind them. When you crouch down to their level, on the other hand, the child looks like someone inside their own world, looking out from their own eyes. This is why many photographers kneel first when photographing children and animals: the viewer enters that frame, the subject's world, by looking from their height.

What do low and high angles change?

A low angle is when the camera is below the subject and looks up. The subject grows in the frame, and behind it there is often the sky, a ceiling or a tall wall; this backdrop is usually plain. Most viewers tend to perceive a subject shot from a low angle as bigger, more powerful or more grand. When shot with a wide angle and from very close, the parts closest to the camera, the feet or the chin, can grow noticeably.

A high angle is when the camera is above the subject and looks down. The subject shrinks, and the ground comes behind it: a street, grass, a table. Most viewers tend to perceive a subject shot from a high angle as smaller, more fragile or more alone. When you hold the camera straight overhead, at right angles to the ground, you get an image called a bird's-eye view: depth disappears and the scene turns into a map or a pattern; a market stall, a tabletop, the shadows of people walking on the sidewalk take on new shapes.

What does angle say about a person?

Photographing a person from below or from above says something about them. A person shot from below can look powerful and capable in most viewers' eyes; someone shot from above can look small, weak or in need of protection. This effect matters especially when photographing older people, children, or people in hard circumstances: always photographing them from above can, without meaning to, build a story that makes them smaller.

When choosing the angle, it helps to ask yourself this question: how do I want to show this person to the viewer, and how would they want to see themselves? Photographing an elderly grandfather where he sits, from his eye level, builds a frame that looks at him with respect; photographing the same grandfather standing, from overhead, can make him look more worn down than he is. Which angle is right is decided not by a rule, but by the care you feel for the person and for what you want to tell.

How does angle change the way light falls on the face?

When camera height changes, the person usually also turns their head toward the camera, and the light falling on their face changes. At noon with the sun overhead, for a person shot from below who tips their head slightly down to look at the camera, the eye sockets go into the shadow of the eyebrows and the underside of the chin turns into a dark area. When shot from above, on the other hand, the person lifts their head to look at the camera; their face turns to the sky, the eye sockets fill with light, and small glints appear in the eyes.

This change can be seen on every skin, but it reads differently. On dark skin, the shadow falling under the eyebrows can very quickly bury the eyes in a darkness without detail; on light skin the same shadow can look like a hard line of contrast. If you want to shoot from a low angle, seating the person a little more toward the sun, sending light back from below by putting a white surface on the ground, or moving to a shaded place brings light to the eyes. When choosing the angle, you need to look not only at shape but also at the light falling on the eyes.

Visual evidence

You go back to the park. You kneel and bring the camera close to the grass, shooting upward with a short focal length. The girl, dark-skinned, her curly hair in the wind, rises with the swing toward the blue sky; behind her the scattered park has disappeared, and in its place there is sky and, at the right edge of the frame, the end of a shiny red slide. But the noon sun is overhead, and when the girl tips her head slightly and looks at you, her eyes stay dark in the shadow of her eyebrows.

You ask her grandfather to spread a white towel on the sunny grass beside the swing; the towel sends a soft light back up onto the girl's face from below. In the next frame there are small glints in the girl's eyes, her smile and eyelashes can be made out, and she looks big and free in front of the sky. Then you photograph the grandfather, white-bearded and light-skinned, from his eye level while he sits on a bench; his face, watching his granddaughter, is equal and calm inside the frame. The same park, three heights; each said something different about two people.

Common mistakes

Summary

Camera height changes how a subject looks and the relationship the viewer builds with it. Eye level gives an equal and familiar look, and for children and animals calls for going down to their level; a low angle enlarges the subject and makes the sky the backdrop, and tends to stir a feeling of power in most viewers; a high angle shrinks the subject and makes the ground the backdrop, and leans toward a feeling of fragility; a bird's-eye view turns the scene into a map. Angle says something about a person and changes the way light falls on the face; for detail to stay in the eyes on every skin, you need to look at the light along with the angle.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will photograph the same subject from different heights.

1. Photograph a subject standing, from chest height; then from its eye level; then from a place close to the ground, and compare the three frames.
2. Photograph a child or an animal first standing, then crouching from their level.
3. Photograph a tabletop, a stall or a pattern on the ground straight from overhead, with a bird's-eye view.
4. Photograph someone from a low angle in the noon sun; if their eyes stay dark, bring light to the eyes by putting a white surface on the ground or changing the angle.

Check yourself

• Did the frame you took from eye level build a more equal relationship with the subject?
• Did the frames you took from low and high angles show the subject differently, as powerful or fragile?
• Do the eyes of the person at a low angle carry detail, regardless of skin tone?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Where should the camera be for a frame that shows a small child from inside their world?

• A) At the photographer's standing eye level
• B) On top of a staircase
• C) At the child's eye level
• D) Straight overhead

2. What feeling does a subject shot from a low angle tend to stir in most viewers?

• A) Power and size
• B) Fragility and smallness
• C) No feeling
• D) Always fear

3. What happens to the scene when you hold the camera straight overhead, at right angles to the ground?

• A) Depth increases
• B) The subject grows
• C) The sky becomes the backdrop
• D) Depth disappears and the scene turns into a map

4. If the eyes of a dark-skinned child shot from a low angle in the noon sun stay dark in the shadow of the eyebrows, what can be done?

• A) Send light back from below by putting a white surface on the ground, or turn the child to the light
• B) Raising the camera to eye level is a must
• C) Lower the angle even more
• D) Nothing can be done

Answers

1. C — Going down to the child's level brings the viewer into their world from their height.
2. A — A low angle enlarges the subject and shows it against the sky; this tends to stir a feeling of power in most viewers.
3. D — In a bird's-eye view the layers stack on top of each other and the scene turns into a flat pattern or a map.
4. A — In an overhead sun, light is brought to the eyes with a reflector from below or by turning the face to the light.

Summary card

• Eye level: equal and familiar; with children and animals, go down to their level.
• Low angle: the subject grows, the sky becomes the backdrop, a feeling of power in most viewers.
• High angle: the subject shrinks, the ground becomes the backdrop, a feeling of fragility; bird's-eye view: a map.
• Angle says something about a person; choose it with care for the person.
• When the angle changes, check the light falling on the eyes; let detail stay in the eyes on every skin.

Bridge to the next lesson

In the swing frame, while the girl was flying toward the sky in the left half of the frame, a red slide was shining in the right half; even though the slide was small, it made that side of the frame heavier, and the frame seemed to lean to the right. Why do bright colors and big shapes look heavier in a frame? Why does a photo look as if it is about to tip over? The next lesson talks about visual balance and deliberately distributing the weights in a frame.