Looking as tall as the Eiffel Tower - best ways to take this pic

[omar]

I want to take pictures in front of famous landmarks
Think of the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty

I want to stand in front (some distance away) and take a pic and make the pic look as though I am the same height

Looking for ideas how best to do

What I've done so far...

Get on the ground, angle the camera upwards.
Have your subject stand in front.
Take the pic.

Comes out pretty good
Wanted to know if there where others bits of advice I should follow?

Thanks


Omar

 

[whothafunk]

Re: Looking as all as the Eiffel Tower - best ways to take this pic

i do have some shots of an eiffel tower. will share them, however there arent any "look at me infront of an eiffel tower", just pure shots of the building.

edit: well, there is one, i had to take it so i had proof i was actually there hehe.

 

[whothafunk]

nevermind, ill just post those with ideas on where or how you can take a portrait picture with the eiffel tower. i forgot the names of the bridges and places (the last picture up on a big open terrasse between 2 palaces)

this was taken from another bridge, a good spot to take portraits, but if you want the lights to pop out, long exposure is needed, where subjects cant be still for that long, eh

im not a specialist when it comes to landscape, street and portrait photography, but i think theyre ok. i hope it helps even a little bit.

 

[omar]

@whothafunk awesome pics
but what i was after required not having depth of field
the depth of field spoils what i'm trying to achieve
(don't get me wrong the pics itself would look nice - just not the effect i'm after)

- take a picture of the eiffel tower - say 10 cm tall
- cut out a picture of yourself, 10cm tall
- put your picture next to the eiffel tower

this is what i want
kind of like godzilla

 

[Halfrack]

Your issue is depth of field - aka your subject is too close to the camera that what's in focus doesn't include infinity (aka the background way far away).

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

http://petapixel.com/2013/04/27/silhouettes-in-a-giant-moonrise-captured-using-a-1200mm-lens/

 

[Eclectik]

You may go at the Trocadéro place, the Eiffel tower looks reasonably small there, having the full DOF.
Another place [than the Concorde bridge, where were taken the long exposures shots above], is the "Place de Catalogne", near Montparnasse station. There, the ET looks smaller than a person, once again, at a reasonable view point, allowing a full DOF.
Sorry, I can't publish my pic about that.

 

[omar]

yes, understand about dof
if i use my canon 60d or 1100d, then i will get this
but if i use a bog standard camera like my fuji finepix s2500, then the dof will be less - this is what i want

i've actually taken pics like what i'm talking about. can't find immediately

EDIT: just found a pic searching google... see below, not my pic... just found now...
this is the kind of pic effect i'm after - just wanted some tips on anything i could do to make the pic better
current method is: point and click from a low position
i'm sure some science could be applied to make it better!

 

[a-hopps]

Try a tripod and 2 exposures. Each shot focusing on either the subject or the tower. Then combine them and mask the out of focus areas in Photoshop.

 

[mitchell3417]

Make sure your aperture is tiny and try to line feet up horizontally with the base of the tower.

 

[omar]

photoshop...?
no... no...
no photoshop
that photo wasn't photoshopped
i can show u many photos i took with a simple non dslr camera that look like that photo

set small aperture: yes, but then u risk losing focus of the person surely?

 

[Halfrack]

set small aperture: yes, but then u risk losing focus of the person surely?

Nope - person in focus too. Depending on what size sensor - full frame f11 is fine, and on crop f8 is fine. Auto-focus will be in the middle of the DoF. So focus looks to be half way between the guy and the white Ford Transit van - so the person is in the front half of the DoF with the ET at the far end of the DoF.

F16 - f22 are all fine, but you'll get softening from diffraction, so be aware of it.

 

[lholmes549]

I would get further away from the Eiffel Tower than in your example, the positioning of the feet are a dead give away of actual proportions and positioning. Get a good bit further away, have your subject stand on a wall or something, put your subject's feet at the very bottom of the frame, using YOUR positioning place the bottom of the tower where their feet are.
Then simply take the photo, use a small aperture, maybe f/11 or smaller.

You should just experiment...the only technical knowledge required is to use a small aperture, the rest is just playing around with perspective based on the position of the subject and the positioning of the camera.

 

[BagJunkie]

I think something like this is what you're after.

Wideangle & small aperture

 

[omar]

>> F16 - f22 are all fine, but you'll get softening from diffraction, so be aware of it.
whats softening and diffraction?

@lholmes549 - not really trying to make fake it as such - so it's ok to show from bottom up

@BagJunkie: u hit the bullseye. awesome!
i've got some pretty good pics (imho) but none as good as that one

small aperture + wideangle??
so that pic is cropped then?

the idea was to take pics like that and sell to tourists
have a van nearby with your secretary. u take a pic. email or wifi it over. they print it. and then u give to the tourists.
when the cops turn up, u get in the van and drive away as fast as u can (see The A Team if you're not sure about this part)
lol

 

[BagJunkie]

Djeeez, my second post and I'm helping you set up an empire of evil.

Wtf!?

 

[Grumbaki]

1- You need a permit to commercially use public space (much like a cafe for it's terrasse) or you'll be kicked out by cops like the street sellers and their plastic eiffel towers.
2- Parking aint cheap in this neigbourhood so your van will cost or be towed.
3- Copyright protected at night. (light works).

Good luck.

PS: I leave in China and here this practice is very common and tolerated. Discussed with a guy, they still make crappy money, even in very touristic places.

 

[bycostello]

just do a composite!!

 

[Deva]

Djeeez, my second post and I'm helping you set up an empire of evil.

Wtf!?

I'm thinking you'd better lawyer-up - I'm seeing "Midnight Express" here, with extra French and garlic...

Going back to the topic in hand, in the days of film cameras, many EOS cameras had a "DEP" function (my EOS 100 did), that allowed you to select the foreground point you wanted in focus, then the background point, and then the camera would work out the correct aperture to get everything in focus. For some reason, digital cameras don't seem to have this any more.

I've always had in mind that depth of field isn't equal front and back, so picking the mid-point between the two objects isn't the best approach. I think the rule of thumb for DOF was 1/3 in front, 2/3 behind the point of focus, but I may be completely wrong.

 

[Northstar]

If I understand correctly, you want both the Eiffel Tower AND your subject in focus? To do this, you need to do some things to widen your dof to infinity.

There are four main factors that contribute to dof: (I know many here know this but their are many that don't, so bear with me)

1. The aperture....shoot at f11 rather than f5.6 or f4...this will help widen your dof.

2. Distance to your subject ... The closer you are to the subject, the narrower the dof. Move further away and your dof will widen.

3. The focal length of your lens...an 85mm lens will have a narrower dof than a 24mm. So as someone else said, shoot wide to increase your dof. 24mm or wider in this case.

4. Your sensor size...a full frame sensor will give you a narrower dof compared to a crop sensor.

So for the tower shot, shoot at f11 and use a 24mm lens...this your starting point. Then, just understand that the closer you get to the subject, the narrower your dof will become and the more likely the tower will be out of focus. The problem, is that to get the "Godzilla" effect as you describe, you need to be close to the subject, so that they appear to be as big or bigger than the tower, but of course getting closer means the dof will narrow...there is the challenge....the solution is simply f11 or smaller and 24mm or wider.

Omar...as someone else posted, spend 5 minutes playing around with the settings on the following website and you'll learn a lot about the 4 factors that control dof....important stuff.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

 

[privatebydesign]

If I understand correctly, you want both the Eiffel Tower AND your subject in focus? To do this, you need to do some things to widen your dof to infinity.

There are four main factors that contribute to dof: (I know many here know this but their are many that don't, so bear with me)

1. The aperture....shoot at f11 rather than f5.6 or f4...this will help widen your dof.

2. Distance to your subject ... The closer you are to the subject, the narrower the dof. Move further away and your dof will widen.

3. The focal length of your lens...an 85mm lens will have a narrower dof than a 24mm. So as someone else said, shoot wide to increase your dof. 24mm or wider in this case.

4. Your sensor size...a full frame sensor will give you a wider dof compared to a crop sensor.

So for the tower shot, shoot at f11 and use a 24mm lens...this your starting point. Then, just understand that the closer you get to the subject, the narrower your dof will become, and the more likely the tower will be out of focus. The problem, is that to get the "Godzilla" effect as you describe, you need to be close to the subject, so that they appear to be as big or bigger than the tower..... This is why you need to shoot at 24mm or wider

Omar...as someone else posted, spend 5 minutes playing around with the settings on the following website and you'll learn a lot about the 4 factors that control dof....important stuff.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Point 3 is arguable, if you maintain subject size dof remains constant between focal lengths.

Point 4 reads incorrectly. A smaller sensor gives more dof. These kinds of forced perspective images are very easy with camera phones and P&S's because they have such small sensors and subsequent massive dof.

Look up forced perspective and use a small sensor at f5.6 or f8, P&S's often max out at f8 anyway.