About Me

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Fantastic Forced Perspective Photographs by Michael Paul Smith


"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."~ John Wooden 

Michael Paul Smith has an eye for detail that's for sure. These wonderful images are made using highly detailed models, a $250 point-and-shoot camera and a great eye for perspective.

For over 25 years Michael has been building delightfully detailed scenes of mid-20th century America using 1/24 models.

'I’m creating a mood, something familiar in the viewer’s mind,' Smith told the New York Times.
The reason a cheap and cheery point-and-shoot works well for forced perspective photography is because of the very small sensors cheaper compact cameras tend to have. The small sensor facilitates a much greater depth of field, much greater than that of a full frame sensor. The smaller the sensor the easier to get everything in sharp focus.  So dust off your old point and shoot and give it a try!

 To see the photographs and purchase prints, visit Michael's site at SmugMug.


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Michael Paul Smith on set.

Michael Paul Smith's childhood home in 1/24th scale

3 comments:

  1. I have been following Michael on Flickr for years and I'm a big fan. I especially like the shots where he steps back and shows us how he set up a previous image. There seems to be some secret sauce to model photography that does not always materialize. Some of these shots are extremely convincing and some are instantly recognizable as models but I can't put my finger on what exactly is making that difference.

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