Why Using Ant’s View Perspective Can Take Your Photography to the Next Level
Perspective is one thing that can make or break your image. Finding the right or a unique perspective can help take your photography to the next level.
The problemImagine yourself walking down a path or street, phone in hand on a fine sunny day. Suddenly, something peaks your photographic interest ahead. What do you do? If you are a keen photographer, you stop dead in your tracks, stealthily raising your phone to your eye. Your finger depresses the shutter button a few times and you inspect the LCD monitor for exposure. Satisfied, you continue on your way, keeping an eye out for the next photographic opportunity. This same routine makes up the majority of your photographic practice, and it has for quite some time.
Later, while revising your photographs, you have a sudden realization – all your recent images look eerily similar. In fact, flicking through your catalog, you notice the same thing in each photograph – they are all taken from the exact same eye-level perspective. Your mobile camera settings were perfect, true, your exposure was dead on. But viewed across a body of photographs, your work comes off tiresome, repetitive, dispassionate even. And it all comes down to perspective.


Getting perspective
​Like many things in life, photography can become habitual. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut without realizing it. Our first attempt into photography begins with mobile camera operation – focus, shutter speed, aperture and ISO – and once we have a handle on that, we then move on to the ins and outs of photographic composition. Yet, although we retain the basics of operating your mobile camera, it’s the composition theory that often gets left to the wayside. This is why many photographers’ work suffers from repetitivity, even though perspective is one of they easiest and most effective ways of switching up your photographic composition.
Perspective involves training your eye to recognize unique opportunities and to emphasize them by positioning your phone. Climbing up trees, laying on your belly, poking your lens through holes in fences – perspective means getting physical with your photographic practice. Of course, there are circumstances where the average mobile camera angle shot is going to work just fine. But keep in mind that the perspective of a photograph is always a choice – don’t waste the chance to create a unique photograph by deferring to the traditional eye-level shot.
Placing the phone on the ground to catch the unusual angel of light that was reflecting off the rain-soaked road yielded some eye-catching results.
Drop it like it’s hotOften photography is about finding that unique point of view and investigating a subject from a creative angle. Physically altering the positioning of your phone is a great way to get you thinking about perspective, and low angle photography can yield amazing results.  The lower the phone, the more dramatic the effect, so don’t be afraid to experiment with the positioning of your phone. It may seem counterintuitive to place an expensive phone on the ground, but as one of my favorite perspective techniques, sometimes getting a little dirty is worth it.
From a low angle at the beach, you are able to pick up the flecks of light coming off the sand. Also able to add some context to the origin of this large piece of seaweed.
A great advantage of this type of photography is that the ground makes for a lovely, steady tripod, so be sure to experiment with slow your phone to protect it if you want. To avoid more editing later, placing your phone on a level surface is a good idea too.
Some examplesHere is an average shot, with my lens positioned at a mid to high angle over this cute little guy. The image looks unresolved and impersonal
Photographed with the phone resting on the line of stones. This photograph depicts the rabbit from his point of view. It tells more of a story about the life of a small critter in a large world. Although timid, this rabbit was much happier for me to get close to him from a low angle approach.
Sometimes you can get away with a bustling streetscape if you find a stoop or rest-stop along the way.
How to see what you’re shootingBlind shooting or working without the viewfinder lends a refreshing opportunity to think creatively without holding the reigns too tightly. A trial and error approach is ideal. Check the LCD monitor after every few photographs to make sure you are getting the images you want. 
Photographed at a popular shrine in Japan. 
An ant’s eye viewPhotographing from such a low point of view isn’t just fun for the photographer. Unusual perspectives impact the experience of the viewer or audience too. From the low perspective, the ground and the horizon either intersect or sandwich the subject material, creating emphasis and guiding the eye around the image. When these planes come together abruptly, they also draw attention to the composition of the environment.
The unusual perspective of ground-level photography also makes objects in the foreground appear larger compared to the background, mirroring our own perception. By enhancing the depth of the image, the image appeals to the human eye because it is both familiar and unusual at the same time.
By investigating perspective, the photograph tells a story in greater detail, creating a more resolved photograph.


ConclusionPlaying with perspective is a really simple way of making your images more dynamic. In fact, it’s a little addictive!
As soon as you get a handle for ground-level photography, you’ll start to notice other unique photographic opportunities around you. There aren’t many people who get the chance to investigate a scene from the ground up. But as photographers, we have the tools and the know-how to photograph unusual perspectives and share them with the world. Don’t be afraid to get physical with the environment around you to get that master shot. And don’t be (too) afraid to put your phone on the ground once in a while.
Task: You will need to come up with 5 photos:
2 every day life shots (point of view of an ant on it's daily travels)
1 food shot (What would food look like to an ant)
2 predator shots (your partner stepping on or trying to swat etc and ant)  
Your photos will all be representing the concept of the ant’s point of view in one way or another.  Your images will then be organized into a Contact Sheet. 
Additional Resources:
Check out this site for some ideas:
http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Challenge.aspx?ID=1734&View=Results&Rows=4 
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