Scale
The Effects of Print and Subject Sizes in Photography
by Ken Rockwell
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These two images show the effect of scale. The little Olympus 35RC looks weird below the photo of the Z 800mm f/6.3 VR, even though each picture is the same size.
It's the same thing when showing photos of bugs or the Grand Canyon.
Different images need different scales and have different optimum print or display sizes. Different print sizes say different things; content alone isn't the full message.
This comes to bite so many Grand Canyon shots. You go out there and are amazed at its scale, use a wide-angle lens or panorama on our iPhones to "get it all in," but then we're disappointed when we see our images.
Why?
Because we show the all-encompassing Grand Canyon at the wrong scale; even a 20 × 30" (50 × 75 cm) print is not going to capture the grandeur of the whole canyon shot with a wide lens. To show a broad Grand Canyon shot at the right scale, you need an 8-foot (2.5m) tall mural as a minimum!
Likewise, if you have a macro shot of the head of a fly, showing it at 20 × 30" (50 × 75 cm) is just plain creepy. Don't do this either, unless your intent is to put it out there and get people's attention.
Pay attention to how you're going to display your images as you make them. If your images go straight to Instagram where the world scrolls past images only 2.8" (71 mm) wide even on the amazing iPhone 13 Pro Max, then make sure your subject is as large as possible. Bug eyes are OK, but if you're showing the Grand Canyon, either show a detail (think close-up of a snow-covered cactus with a fuzzy bokehed canyon in the background), or be sure that whatever you show has a strong underlying composition which pops-out even at small sizes.
Likewise, if you're making murals, pay attention and avoid close-ups of things that would look weird when shown huge. What looks great editing on your computer will feel entirely different printed 20 feet (6 meters) tall.
Keep the broad expanses for the murals and close-ups for smaller images. If you do show a broad area in a small image, be sure it has a strong underlying compositional structure. If you are printing huge, be judicious in showing closeups.
© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Ken Rockwell® is a registered trademark.
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