Forced Perspective. / by Sean Fenzl

The new Liebherr crane at the Nanaimo Port Authority. (straight out of camera, unedited shot)

The new Liebherr crane at the Nanaimo Port Authority. (straight out of camera, unedited shot)

I've always loved 'toying' with forced perspectives.  So when I participated in a meeting at the Nanaimo Port Authority, making concepts for how we could announce the arrival of a new crane, I knew I had my chance.  When the client brought in a beautiful scale model to show what they were investing in, I knew exactly what direction I'd be taking this!

I studied the location and picked a spot, then returned to the studio to craft a similar asphalt surface to what I saw at the Port.  We then returned with the model, the surface, and a very wide angle lens to force the perspective sans photoshop.

The results are quite convincing, unless I were to show you this: 

My bigger than life assistant helps position the crane for the shot.

My bigger than life assistant helps position the crane for the shot.

Have you got any big ideas that could be helped by this method?  I'd love to do this again.