If your images are looking flat and featureless, a sense of depth could transform them. Lee Frost shares his top tips for bringing them to life by adding that all-important third dimension.

1. Diminishing scale

Image: ©Lee Frost, Holy Island, Northumberland

Even though photographs can only record two dimensions, the human brain senses a third dimension because it understands the effect distance has on the size of an object. If you stand outside your house and look up at it, for example, the building will appear very large and imposing. Move 100m away, however, and it suddenly seems much smaller. This isn’t because the size of the house has physically changed, but because you’re further away from it. This principle is the basis of diminishing perspective. If you photograph an avenue of trees, each tree will appear slightly shorter than the last, even though they are all roughly the same size. Depth is therefore implied because we know that if the trees are getting smaller, it’s because they’re stretching off into the distance. The same effect can be achieved with a row of lamp posts, a long wall or any repeated features of a similar size.

2. Wide and close

Image: ©Lee Frost, Embleton Bay, Northumberland

To emphasise the diminishing-scale effect, move up close and use a wideangle lens. Doing this causes the repeated features to get much smaller much quicker. With an avenue of trees, for instance, the first tree will seem enormous and the last one tiny, while the gap between the trees seems to close up very quickly as the avenue stretches off into the distance, to the point that the last trees will appear to be touching.

3. Linear perspective

Image: ©Lee Frost, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland

This type of perspective is best illustrated by the convergence of parallel lines formed by a straight road, railway tracks, pipelines, the furrows in a ploughed field and so on. Although the lines are roughly the same distance apart, they seem to get much closer together with distance. In fact, in a photograph, converging lines are one of the most powerful compositional aids, as they not only add a strong sense of depth, but they also carry the eye through the scene from foreground to background.

Find more tips in issue 284.