I think that one thing that is missing in this perspective discussion is that the viewing distance of the prints remains the same and that is what gives the rise of exaggerated or compressed perspective.
I think that photographs should be viewed from distances proportional to the focal length of the lenses that were used to make them. So a photograph made with a telephoto lens should be viewed from a much larger distance than a photograph made with a shorter lens. But because we tend to view all prints from the same distance ... like arm's length ... the relationship between foreground and background objects seems to be different. I think there is a Kodak pamphlet that covered this called "Viewing prints in correct perspective". In forensic situations this is stressed.
Maybe I'll run across this again somewhere in my basement. But the Materials and Processes book by Stroebel, Compton, Current and Zakia covers it in great detail.
Andy
A photograph made with a wide angle lens
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Debunking the telephoto lens myth?
From: PhotoRoy6@xxxxxxx
Date: Thu, February 18, 2016 3:51 pm
To: photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I didn't watch the video but telephoto lenses visually "compress" the subject.Andreas Feininger in the book Complete Photographer shows this with parking meters.As to depth of field both wide angle and telephoto lens inherently produce the same depth of field. My Physic instructor in the 1970's blew up a wide angle shot until it was the same image size as the telephoto lens. The depth of field was the same once subject size was equal in the print.The question about which lens to use is: Which lens produces the most dramatic results visually given a specific situation.RoyIn a message dated 2/18/2016 12:21:36 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, ygelmanphoto@xxxxxxxxx writes:Our comments here introduced the term "perspective" and should also have brought in "depth of field" but that would have necessitated "aperture" as well.
