Perspective deformation of architectural photography

Architects or painters generally use the principle of one-point, two-point or three-point perspective to draw architectural perspective, among which the principle of one-point and two-point perspective is widely used, because the painter can not only set the height of the apparent horizon at any height on the picture, but also keep the original straight lines (such as building walls and columns) vertical in the picture. However, when drawing with the principle of three-point perspective, the lines perpendicular to the ground will converge upwards (that is, disappear to the third vanishing point), and a slight carelessness in composition will make the building feel inclined and unstable, especially when expressing group perspective, so it is rarely used.

Photography represents the perspective relationship of three-dimensional space through cameras, which is different from the perspective principle of painting. When a photographer takes a picture with an ordinary camera, only when the camera is horizontal will the vertical line of the building remain vertical in the picture, and its perspective relationship will have one or two perspective effects in the painting. This limits the flexibility of shooting buildings with ordinary cameras, especially when shooting high-rise buildings on the ground, the ground at the bottom of the picture often appears too much, and the top of the building can not be photographed. If the camera is tilted upward, although the top of the building is photographed, the lines that were originally perpendicular to the ground will indeed converge upward, forming a three-point perspective effect in painting, which is commonly known as "perspective distortion" in photography. When accepting photos of buildings, except for those works that deliberately use diagonal lines to express visual impact or pursue dramatic composition, in most cases, people are used to accepting the effect of one or two perspectives in painting, that is, the building remains vertical in the photos, because this is the most commonly used perspective for ordinary people to look at architecture and the world.