Project 0: The Vertigo Shot
By Peng Li
Introduction
The images were captured with an Olympus E-500 digital camera.
The lens have focal lengths of 14mm to 45mm.
To produce the Vertigo Shot, the camera was first set to the minimum zoom
of 14mm and positioned near the subject. Then the camera was moved away from
the subject while increasing the zoom to make the subject to appear to have
the same size. Therefore, the subject is mostly unchanged while the background
objects changed dramatically.
The two sequences of shot were taken in the Gates Building where the cups shots were on sixth floor and the plant shots were on seventh floor.
The hardest part of the project is to keep the subject having the same size and angle.
The shots were taken without a tripod, therefore it was hard to keep the subject on the same view plane with the same angle.
To reduce this problem, the zoom level was kept constant while taking multiple images of the subject in different distance and angles. During the assembly process, the best images were picked to produce the final GIF image.
Plant
Cup
Animated GIF
Computer FOV of minimum and maximum zoom
The subject which is the trash can is 1.2 feet wide. The minimum zoom is shot at 2.4 feet away while the maximum zoom is shot at 11.3 feet away.
Using the equation theta = arctan(d/2f) where d=1.2. FOV equals arctan(1.2/(2*2.4)) = 14 degrees and arctan(1.2/(2*11.3)) = 3 degrees for minimal and maximal zoom respectfully.
However, the can is just 1/5 of the picture, therefore the degrees need to be multiple by 5 to get 70 degrees for the minimal zoom and 15 degrees for the maximal zoom.