A simple lesson on PERSPECTIVE

I've come across many a thread over the years where a video or photo is posted showing birds, bugs, planes etc being misidentified as UFO's (the alien kind).

Now it's all very well to mistake some of these as genuine UFO's but what many don't seem to get when viewing these is perspective.

Comments such as "It can't be a bird because it's too large" or "It's moving too fast" are seen all too often.

I notice this with many posts regarding Venus too, the same misconception of perspective is obvious here as well, simply put, Venus is much closer to earth than all of the other stars in the sky, so it will move much quicker across the sky than the other stars.

I'm a bit concerned that many can't understand this concept...

But I digress.

Back to what I was getting at regarding perspective in photos and videos, I think a visual demonstration best describes what I'm getting at here.

Exhibit A:


Here we see a man in some very stylish sunglasses holding up two dwarfs in his hands.

A classic example of perspective and how easily the eye can be fooled.

Exhibit B:


Good lord!
That boy is going to be stomped on by a giant foot!
Oh the humanity!

Let us zoom out a bit and see what's really going on.



Things aren't what they seem and I hope these two images demonstrate this.

So next time you see a video or picture of an object that seems to be too large, or too fast to be a bird or a bug, remember to consider that you're viewing a 3D environment on a 2D plane.

And the keyword:

PERSPECTIVE!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0f88eaebe3e9.png[/atsimg]


[edit on 2/5/10 by Chadwickus]

reply to post by Chadwickus


Fantastic post! Precise and to the point, and ever so perfect!

Perspective is hard for some people, but I also found easier for some. In particular, I think, for people that have studied art in any fashion, because it demands it.

Any painting or drawing showing a road disappearing over a horizon, or a barn on a hill with trees in the distance requires an understanding of perspective, so I think some people are just more inclined to "get it".

Thanks again, I really love pictures like the ones you posted, they are great fun!

I get the whole perspective thing but i don't see where your going with this...I mean any video/image can be criticized in that way because they all have a frame of reference..in the end none of the images or videos out there could be justified..even if they were authentic..what I'm trying to say is you can't justify a video/image of a UFO..you have to actually see it...

Billy Meier intentionally used forced perspective in his saucer photos. Many of them are pretty obvious, like the wedding cake saucer below, but they still fool many people.

Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.

Source

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c4275557dbe1.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by Shant


I was about to post a couple of examples of the threads I described above.

For the record, I am not saying all cases should be dismissed on this basis, just that it needs to be considered and understood when investigating such cases.

So here are a couple of recent threads that IMHO are of birds and bats.

They also contain the ignorance of perspective that I am speaking of.

V-Shape UFO Formation over Iceland Volcano | Sky News 4/18/2010

fast ufos in the sky over Niagra falls Canada April 13th, 2010

reply to post by Chadwickus



I have to agree with you on both cases. The geese in the first one could have been an etreme distance from that ash cloud, but because of the enormity of the cloud, the birds appear closer to it than to the photgrapher.

On the second video, I will call bats because I had this *exact* thing happen to me. The most telling thing is the apparent light pollution in the video. The second factor is the awkward flight patterns, it is a bat catching bugs.

When this happened to me, I was at a job site at night, and there was a fair amount of light pollution in the area, including some rather large billboards with upward facing lights.

Well, we all know what lights at night attract, right?

Anyway, I was outside doing some stargazing, and even had a few sattellites I knew flight paths and times for, and upon looking over towards a rather close and crowded horizon, I see objects like the second video.

Lots of them. 7 or 8, all flying erratically, appearing to do insane maneuvers. They appeared to me to be spherical and silver, and when I told my husband about it on the phone, I exclaimed, "It looks almost like they are playing together!"

He promptly shows up with the video camera that I had asked him to bring, and upon zooming in, it was suddenly and embarrassingly obvious, they were bats.

It was the upward pointing lights on the billboard reflecting of them, and that coupled with the distance, the crowding of the horizon, all of it, it played perectly into the UFO scenario.

I have often thought a video like that would have been extremely convincing, without the zoom, of course. Good thing I am not a hoaxer!

Had I not had that camera, and know what I know, I can say for a fact that I would have been telling this story as a UFO story, and not a bat story.

And I say again, excellent post, excellent points!

reply to post by Chadwickus


Flag and Star, The countless times that images of Venus (and Mercury lately) that when zoomed in on, create a moving object in the sky, what with an unsteady camara.
The pictures are great examples of how perspective can be warpped.

reply to post by Chadwickus


yup exactly..especially the Iceland volcano suicide geese lol...I still think no image or video could be justified..I haven't seen any photo that seemed real to me; im a graphic designer and can tell what techniques of perspective, angle and lighting are utilized to trick the eye... Unless a V mothership lands in my city with a hot male version of Anna speaking through it i stick to my point

Great thread! Firstly, I do believe in the possibility of craft visting our lowly little planet, but I would say 99.9% of the threads posted on ATS fall into the catagory of mis-identification and a mis-understood perspective. Threads like this help get that point across so thanks for posting.

Indeed, perspective is easy to play with, my favorite example.

These remind me of the images you can see two ways, like the old woman/young woman...any remember what I'm talking about?

reply to post by celtics23


I think you are referring to this?

www.designboom.com...

reply to post by Grey Magic


That Ferrari vid was done very well lol.

Thanks for sharing.

reply to post by Grey Magic


Grey Magic.....

I'd not seen that before.

What a great example of forced perspective!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by Chadwickus


Chadwickus.....

Your "perspective" reminder is timely & the examples you posted are useful & entertaining.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


Cheers buddy!

useful & entertaining

Exactly why I used them!

Thanks again!

reply to post by Chadwickus


I discovered this effect when I was a kid, I used to take my Jurassic Park toys and make photos looking like a T-Rex was attacking my younger siblings

Perception can be confusing. I once watched what appeared to be a UFO glide across a clear starlit sky, it looked just like a star only it was moving very slowly. Eventually though it changed direction and when I saw it from the side I realized it was just a plane. It had moved so stealthily and silently and slowly only because of where I was in relation to it, once it moved it was clear what it was.

So yeah, perspective can be deceiving. Star and Flag.

Very very interesting.