Lately there have been a ton of photos popping up all over the web of people dominating nature – for example, those rather popular photo techniques of showing someone holding the sun, or having some other kind of direct interaction with it. This has also been done with animals, clouds, mountains, famous landmarks and a number of other objects.

If you have been curious about what this fashionable photography process is, it is called “Forced Perspective”. This is a way of changing the size of an object, the location or the context of an environment by utilizing perspective and optical illusion tricks. Using angle, proximity, position and props, you can set up a very interesting, inspiring and often humorous looking picture that will be sure to grab a lot of attention.

Five Examples of Forced Perspective at Its Best

1. Gravity Fools

This is perhaps one of my all time favorite forced perspective photos. At first glance your mind might have some trouble working out what is going on. You have one man sitting on the ground, his back against the wall. Another is seemingly running forward to aid a third, who is hanging from a protrusion in the wall between them. But upon further inspection (and with a tilt of the head) you realize that all three are actually laying on the ground. The protrusion is a fire hydrant and a car going by in the far side of the picture turns the whole image around. Simple, brilliant and well made.

2. Desert View

This one shows how you can give the impression of infinite distance with a few people and a flat background. The desert setting is barren and fascinating, and the colors of the ground meeting the gorgeous blue of the sky clear to the horizon is breathtaking. But the focal point of the picture is a set of seven people evenly spaced into the distance. Each is striking the same pose. The way that they are set up makes it look like the chain of people could be going on for miles. In reality, they are placed a few feet from one another all the way back.

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