Controlling perspective, photographers can create meaning.

Every photographer has shot scenes that originally looked great to the eye, but came out "flat" and boring as pictures. That's because our cameras have only one eye--a lens. Cameras see the world in only two dimensions--height and width. But if we carefully control perspective, we can make pictures that imply depth as well, giving the illusion of a third dimension and thereby building more vitality and meaning into our pictures.

Some call it adding "depth." Others use the more complex term "dimensionality." I've even heard it called "seeing in deep space." In photography, all these terms mean the same thing: perspective control.

Andrea Rasetti, an executive based in Turin, Italy, spends a lot of time on the road. His travels take him to the four corners of the earth, and his camera is never far from his eye. Jolting along the rocky track of the Bolivian desert, he blends three dimensions of meaning into this shot of his caravan (upper left), carefully controlling perspective to bring a sense of place to this desolate, yet beautiful stretch of land. Shooting from the back of a vehicle, he weaves foreground, subject and background together to tell a story. The rocky foreground speaks of an arduous journey ahead. The subject--two vehicles and a churning cloud of dust--brings a sense of scale to the vast landscape, as these trucks diminish in size. I can almost taste the grit! The range of snow splashed mountains in the background adds a strikingly incongruous context to the rugged landscape. Bravo, Andrea--for seeing in three dimensions!

In my own travel photography, I usually use a wide-angle lens to control perspective. Longer focal lengths compress information, while wider lenses can create a richly layered sense of depth. Wide angles can also offer maximum sharpness from foreground to background. When I approached the Great Pyramids of Egypt (lower left), I used our local guide as my "foreground layer" as he led us toward these ancient tombs. He was walking just in front of me, but my wide angle perspective makes him seem farther away than he really is. Yet he appears to stand as tall as the Great Pyramids themselves. The tiny figures in the distance appear much smaller than the guide--giving me a chance to imply a greater sense of depth. The converging parallel lines of the long road lead us to the pyramids themselves--my "subject layer."

My "context layer" features clouds rising like great plumes of smoke into a deep blue sky. By using a 20mm wide-angle lens, and the right proximity to my subjects, I was able to create a perspective involving these foreground, middle ground and background elements to portray the Great Pyramids in all of their legendary mystery,

In the third example (upper right), I used a 26mm wide-angle lens on my compact digital camera to control perspective when photographing dancing children in a Siberian village. I rested my camera on the floor of the stage so I could fill half the picture's foreground with the blur of a moving boot made out of reindeer skin.

It is much larger than the slightly less blurred children dancing in the middle ground. Meanwhile, a sharply focused Russian dance teacher clutching her cane in the background keeps close watch, which gives me the subject layer of my picture.

Such perspective control can also help a business oriented photograph say more. Chicago area freelancer Jim Summaria's shot of an enthusiastic meeting speaker (lower right) communicates more effectively because it combines foreground, middle ground and background meaning. He frames his subject by shooting from between two chairs in the foreground, increasing the illusion of depth and making us part of the audience. The speaker's animated response dominates the middle ground and becomes the subject of the picture. The background layer features a logo, adding context to the picture. As in our other examples, Summaria's control of perspective implies depth, adding a third dimension to say more to viewers.

Philip N. Douglis, ABC, directs The Douglis Visual Workshops, now in its 32nd year of training communicators in visual literacy. Douglis, an IABC Fellow, is the most widely known consultant on editorial photography for organizations. He offers a comprehensive six-person Communicating with Pictures workshop every May and October in Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, Ariz. For registration information, call +1 602.493.6709, or send an e-mail to [e-mail]. Send photos for possible use in this column to: The Douglis Visual Workshops, 2505 E. Carol Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85028, USA. View Douglis's travel photojournalism portfolios on the web at www.worldisround.com/ home/land 1/index.html.