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About instructor
I Teach Creatives
assignments 21 submissions
Hello Marshall!
Here is my submission for the exercise. I photographed several subjects at my parents' house, taking a very wide shot and a telephoto shot for each one.
My key observation concerns the portrait of my parents' dog. As you will see, the photo taken from very close with a wide-angle lens expands the space and makes her appear more slender, with her nose seeming further from her ears.
In contrast, the version taken from far away with a long lens compresses the planes. Her snout and body appear closer together, which has the effect of making her look stockier and more massive. It's a perfect demonstration of how the lens "folds" space, even on a living subject.
I also observed the described effect on the vanishing points for the angular objects: they move closer together in the wide-angle view and spread far apart in the telephoto view.
Thank you for this stimulating course as always 🥰
LESSON NOTES
What's in Premium?
This lesson breaks down the crucial difference between zooming and physically moving closer to your subject. I'll show you how zooming compresses space, while true proximity expands it to create depth. You'll learn about "trajectory," the path of your view, and why it's key for creating powerful close-and-far contrasts in your photos. We'll look at real-world examples and I'll give you a practical project to help you master this skill and control the sense of space in your own work.
Get this lesson and more in the premium course!
DOWNLOADS
assignment-trajectory.mp4
203 MB
assignment-trajectory-transcript-english.txt
5 kB
assignment-trajectory-transcript-spanish.txt
5 kB
assignment-trajectory-captions-english.srt
8 kB
assignment-trajectory-captions-spanish.srt
9 kB
ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Pamela D]()
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![Shefali Garg]()
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![Angelica]()
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![Michael Longhurst]()
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![Li Ming Lin]()
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![Carlos Pérez]()
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![Amani Noor]()
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![Kai Ju]()
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![M C]()
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![@rupertdddd]()
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![Jacob Hebda]()
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![Carlos Pérez]()
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![M C]()
Now it's your turn to experiment. Go find something you like and photograph it from at least two different distances.
- Get as close as you can while still fitting the entire subject in the frame. Use a wide-angle view.
- Get as far away as you can and use a zoom or long lens to frame the subject similarly.
You can also take in-between shots. The goal is to see the contrast between the compressed space of the distant shot and the expanded space of the close-up.
This effect even works on flat objects. While a flat object shot face-on won't change much, the world around it will expand and compress dramatically. You'll notice that in the close-up view, vanishing points appear closer together, while in the distant view, they spread far apart.
Get out there and practice folding space with your camera. Good luck, and may all your trajectories be straight.
Deadline - submit by Nov 02, 2025 for a chance to be in the critique video!
I saw this modern sculpture in Rotterdam in the docks and thought it ideal reference of near simple shapes to share.
i thought this will be an easy assignment, since I am traveling I will be able to get these photos very easily. As I started taking pictures I realized it was not that easy to take pictures from same trajectory but different distance. I am slowly understanding difference between different views. Due to this exercise now I will be taking lot more photographs from different distances with same trajectory.
It was not that easy to know if I managed to keep my trajectories straight. And I did not have a camera with a wide angle lens. But I did my best and I think I got some good examples.
Pretty cool seeing this in action. It was tough getting the angles right. For example on the 2nd set of piano bench photos, I did the far one with a telephoto lens standing at the end of the hallway. Then had to guess how much to crouch down when close up. I also really liked how much the background changed on some of the outdoor ones, particularly the water slide.
Couldn't venture out much sadly, so just took convenient pictures.
I was quite surprised to see that the lamp post's close-up allowed me to see the entire square bulb without going directly underneath the lamp post. I think mostly it was because the blub was extending out at an angle.
For the cup's close-up, I can see how our cone of vision spreads out wider:
- The more 'up' we needed to look (which is why we are looking upwards to the cup's rim)
And
- The more 'down' we needed to look (which is why we can see more of the bottom of the cup, forgive the glass reflections)
Outside project
I took a picture from far away with zoom and then got close to take the second shot with a .5 lens from my phone . Respecting the trajectory .
Took some photos around my apartment. I keep forgetting to take my phone out when I'm out on walks.
For the images with my dog, I snapped as I walked forward in a straight line, trying to keep the camera at the same height as I went.
many thanks for sharing these! 🤣it was about to take pictures of my skull and hands model too, and i just saw these! so I can see what your photos are like, study them, and then try and feel the "zolly" effect if whatever is the name, for myself! it's a vert physical intuitive thing nit an intellectual one we have to experience!
I have two subjects - one is of a massive sardine can at the sardine factory down the road, the other is something you put your bin bag on in an attempt to prevent the local mongoose from ripping it to shreds... :)
I apologize for having been unable to post anything for a while. I have been busy lately with work, but I have been following along with the videos and practicing exercises in my notebook.
I wanted to share some images I took for the trajectory assignment. Marshall helped open my eyes to these effects, which I hadn't been conscious of previously. I endeavored to keep my trajectories as straight as I could (with Marshall’s jingle in my head)!
I noticed that the lighting tended to darken as I moved further away from the subject, and I also observed how organic subjects, like the branches of the Smooth Japanese Maple, pop out in the close-up and flatten with the distance shot. I attempted a close, medium, and distant shot with the car, and I hope I kept my trajectory straight with the cube because I noted that an additional plane became visible when I stepped back and elevated the camera on a diagonal trajectory from the subject.
I really appreciate Marshall’s point about the cannon drawing from an earlier critique video too. I never noticed these effects before, and I’m grateful to be aware of them now. I tried taking pictures of the cannon again to better capture Marshall’s advice, as well as studying a variety of other subjects, including a (mostly) flat one, a chestnut oak leaf. I’m excited to see the other students’ submissions and to learn even more about perspective! Thank you, everyone!
I took this photos with my phone ,
I couldn’t stop myself from cropping the image , it does give the zoom out picture more closeness,
what about that ? Is it cheating or something?
I noticed as well that being actually closer to the object doesn’t mean necessarily that the object will look cleaner, my camera did not take the details with the tiny figurine
when we are close the overlapping of objects is so visible, in zoomed and crop it looks all painted on a billboard but some images are difficult to tell apart like the parking lot on @Carlos Javier Roo Soto most excellent photos , can anyone give me a tip on how to see the difference?
