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KN Creative Academy Lab Suite

Lens Lab

See how camera distance and lens choice can quietly distort portrait proportions.

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Human eye perspective Distance from camera = - 24mm same framing Distance from camera = -
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Lab Instructions
  1. Select a baseline view for your comparison: Human Eye or the standard 85mm portrait lens.
  2. Choose the lens you want to compare against the baseline. Select a preset from 16mm to 200mm, use the Focal Length slider, or choose an equivalent iPhone lens.
  3. Select a Framing Mode:
    • and use the comparison grid to see how different lenses distort the proportions of David’s head.
    • Keep the head the same size to see how far the camera must move from the subject for each lens. This demonstrates how camera distance can help minimise portrait distortion.
  4. Rotate David’s head to examine how lens distortion affects the face from different angles.
  5. Use the Camera Readout as a practical guide when photographing portraits. The suggested focal length and camera distance can help you create more natural-looking reference photographs for your artwork.
Lab note: Lens examples simplify optical behaviour and may not exactly reproduce every lens, sensor, camera distance or photographic setup. Read about Lab use and limitations

Teaching point The head is not changing. Only the camera is. Close wide-angle reference can exaggerate nearer forms - especially the nose, mouth, brow and chin - while visually pushing the ears and sides of the head backward. For portrait drawing reference, a longer lens used farther away usually gives a more natural look.

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