Directing the Documentary, 7th Edition

C H A P T E R 26

Optics and Perception

Spatial Perception

Properly used, lenses complement your way of seeing. They do however take some basic understanding, for though a camera lens functions like a lens in the human eye, the shortcomings of camera technology require you to make various adaptations to approximate human perception. No art form is without its compromises, and all require the art that hides art. Painters, after all, have to render a three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional canvas. Likewise, compromises you make with camera and lenses are necessary because in a 3D world, most cameras record in only two dimensions. Additionally, the height and width of their vision is distinctly limited compared with that of the human eye. ...