CS180 · Project 0

Becoming Friends with Your Camera

Exploring perspective, focal length/zoom, and the center of projection through three mini‑experiments: portrait perspective, architectural compression, and a classic dolly zoom.

Course: CS180 — Intro to Computer Vision & Computational Photography Project #0 Author: Kourosh Salahi

Overview & Key Idea

This was a really cool project as it gave me a better grasp of the way my camera works and the relationship with zoom, perspective, and focal length in photography. The three parts below show the results of my work.

Part 1 — Portrait Perspective: Close vs. Step‑Back + Zoom

First, I shot a close portrait of my roomate Jai, who kindly volunteered to be my guinea pig in this experiment. I then stepped back several feet and used zoom to match the framing. Notice how facial proportions look more natural when I keep the framing but change the camera position.

Close-up portrait with wide perspective.
Close‑up portrait (short distance). Features appear exaggerated (e.g., larger nose relative to ears).
Portrait from farther distance with zoom, matching framing.
Step‑back + zoom to match framing. Proportions look more neutral due to longer working distance.

Observation: Geeked vs. Locked in. Keeping the face the same size in the frame while changing distance alters perspective (relative sizes of near vs. far features).

Part 2 — Architectural Perspective Compression

I photographed a receding scene two ways: (A) from a distance with more zoom, and (B) from closer with no zoom, keeping the overall framing similar.

Telephoto framing of a street from far away.
Telephoto from afar: background objects appear closer to foreground; compression observed.
Wide-angle framing of a street from up close.
Wide from up close with similar framing: stronger convergence of lines; scene feels deeper.

Part 3 — The Dolly Zoom

I created a dolly zoom by moving the camera backward while simultaneously zooming in, keeping the subject roughly the same size across frames. The changing perspective against a stable subject produces a cinematic “push‑pull” effect.

Animated GIF showing a dolly zoom sequence.
Animated sequence (11 frames). Pictured are 3 of my favorite colognes.

Thanks for checking out my Project!! 🥳🥳🥳