A Crash Course in Low Angle Photo Composition

Camera angle as composition isn’t talked about as often as, say, how the elements in your photos are arranged. But changing your camera angle can completely transform the message an image sends, something Ted Forbes explains beautifully in this crash course on low angle photography.

In this short video—a companion to a recent Art of Photography ‘photo assignment’ on low angle photography—Forbes explains how camera angle can help lend depth to your photographs in a more dramatic fashion than many of the other compositional tools at your disposal. Using a low angle makes objects appear bigger, frequently conveying power and scale.

Forbes’ video is peppered with amazing examples from the world of photography—they range from subtle low angle shots like Arnold Newman’s portrait of JFK, to much more extreme examples like Elliott Erwitt’s ground-level photographs of dogs. Even if you’re not remotely interested in low angle photography, the video is well worth a watch for some Tuesday inspiration.

Check it out for yourself up top, and then visit this YouTube playlist to find out more about this and previous Art of Photography photo assignments.

(via ISO 1200)