Project 0: The Vertigo Shot
by Nara Kasbergen
I took all of my shots in the Great Hall of CFA using a Nikon D5000 digital SLR camera with a standard 18-55mm lens.
Take 1 (not shown)
I started off on the mezzanine level, taking pictures of the Great Hall down below. This was basically my test run, when I tried different settings on my camera (such as straight-up taking each shot individually vs. taking automated interval shots). I discovered that the most difficult part of taking the shots was keeping the camera level and pointed in the exact same direction such that all the shots lined up nicely. There's a reason why this shot is also called "the dolly zoom"; it seems almost foolish to attempt it without a dolly. A tripod might've helped to mitigate some of these difficulties by at least keeping the camera steady, but unfortunately I only own a Gorillapod that is far too small for these purposes.
Take 2 (left)
Next, I moved down into the Great Hall, where I had more room to move backwards. Having gained some experience, I knew what problems to watch out for. One of the more difficult parts of this setting was that the horizontal lines on the floor made it even more obvious if the camera wasn't perfectly aligned, and it took many frustrating takes to produce even a single shot.
Take 3 (right)
I finally decided to try another angle of the Great Hall, this time focusing on a subject that was slightly closer in physical space. The results were slightly better although by this point it was growing quite dark outside and I had to set my camera to use the maximum ISO setting, which produced grainy images that were blurry when zoomed in.