Photographing or Drawing 3D

This photographing or drawing 3D tutorial depends upon reviewing our 3D tutorial which explains new concepts in grasping the creation of 3D imagery.

As with all of these lessons, this can be applied to any visual art form.

Focus

Whether taking a photograph or drawing 3D, the use of focus creates "difference with distance" by the sharpening and blurring of a scene. (below)

The more different the levels of focus are between those depths, the more depth perception is created.

This also has the ability to indicate a specific depth within the scene by making it the sharpest part of it. (above) That gives us the benefit of being able to precisely direct the attention of the audience on one particular depth.

Focus creates less value as we go farther from the position of the subject rather than our viewpoint. (above) Because of this, levels of sharpness do not only reduce as the distance from us increases but also reduce as they approach us from that one depth.

Along with enhancing apparent depth, note that this effect also emphasizes one's subject among any other things within that scene.

Although we are accustomed to seeing parts of a photograph out of focus, in real life this is less detectable. As soon as something gains our attention, our eyes quickly bring that subject into focus.

However, note that the in-focus ball in our illustration still tends to look closer than the other two. This is because things that are less are usually perceived as being farther (since the largest and smallest balls are less sharp than the middle one). This means that we might have to reinforce other depth cues to maintain their proper relationships with each other. For example, by overlapping these objects according to their distances, we may compensate for any visual inconsistencies.

The range of depth that we are able to see clearly in focus is referred to as our depth of field. This can be adjusted to be very small or expanded across a large depth for practically the entire scene.

Contrast

Contrast describes this amount of difference between light and dark.

A scene can be made to change with distance according to its levels of contrast. To be more specific, reducing something with distance here is accomplished by reducing differences between light and dark. (below)

Observe how the left side appears much closer to us than the right side.

Also note that less contrast tends to make things look more flattened.

Our next lesson explains how to invent your own depth cues when drawing in 3D.

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