Sometimes you absolutely must use a wide-angle lens to get the entire scene in the shot. But there’s a downside to it that can turn out quite hilarious. This is exactly what happened in this photo. The US president Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden met with former president Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter last week. Thanks to a wide-angle lens, the Carters look like giants in a tiny house and the longer you look, the funnier it gets.
The Bidens visited the Carters in their home, and The Carter Center published the photo from the visit on 4 May. Take a look:
As you can probably assume, the photo caused a flood of comments. Other than political and coronavirus-related ones, there were also many comments on the weird proportions in the image.
To some, the Carters may seem like miniatures. To others, the Bidens appear like giants in a doll house. Either way, it’s hilarious, and it made me remember this photo of Trump, also taken with a wide-angle lens. And as usual, some folks got creative with the photo and made it even funnier.
— ? Deonardo La Vinci ? (@DeonardoLeVinci) May 4, 2021
As photographers among you know, this happened due to lens distortion. As Johanna wrote in her reply, this is a perfect example of why we should avoid shooting portraits with a super wide-angle lens. “Anything on the edges will appear huge due to lens distortion,” she adds, concluding that it “must have been a very small room and no other option.” Another Twitter user, Dr. Linda, “fixed” the image to show what it would be like with no lens distortion. Now it makes more sense.
[via PetaPixel]
