A recent tweet:
Can we all stop believing the accuracy of those telephoto-lens "packed" beach/street photos. It's a cheap trick, and one easily done. Below are 2 photos taken by me 20 seconds apart. Change the angle to straight along + crop = corona-tastic looking crowd. pic.twitter.com/AlpHvumW2p
— Ed Fidgeon-Kavanagh (@Clearpreso) June 25, 2020
Why does the crowd look denser in the second image? When you make an extreme zoom in an image your brain loses the context in which the original photo was taken. Images are 2D, so no sense of depth here.
Lessons:
When news outlets publish images to show crowd sizes, see at what angle they are taken. Drone shots from above are the most reliable
If you need an image of a crowded street or other public place in your presentation, you can use this effect to your advantage. Download a very high resolution image with a flat camera angle, and apply a big zoom/crop.
Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash