Distortion in a Photo

Here's a little jpeg from a real estate site that shows exactly the same kind of distortion that comes from having vanishing points in too close. How does it look to you? Weird? Nothing out-of-the-way? Notice that the squares of the tile floor are taller than square near the bottom.

My theory is that we can accept this distortion near the edge of a photo or drawing. But this is quite a lot! (The truth is, I didn't know this could occur in a photo -- at least to such a degree -- till I noticed this photo.)

This is the result of the poor real estate agent's trying to make the dingy little bathroom in this place look roomy by using a very wide angle lens. Short lenses "force" perspective, exaggerating scale differences between near and far, and provide a greater feeling of depth. In theory.

(BTW, the photographer's use of available light has put the shadow of someone's arm and side in the frame--possibly his own. A flash naturally creates only shadows that are about 99.9% concealed from the lens.)

This lens is short enough that it gives a fisheye effect: the long verticals at the left edge of the frame bow outward very slightly. You can actually see this in a lot of snapshots if you look for it, as in the storefront pic.

Remember that the degree of fishy "bowing out" has nothing to do with the distance of the object from the lens, and everything to do with how far the object is from the center of vision, laterally, in the picture plane.

JH