Perspective is about how space, objects and scenes appear, are viewed, and are represented.
It affects what we see with our eyes, what a camera records, and how space is shown in drawings, paintings, photographs, films, diagrams, computer graphics and digital environments.
If something looks smaller because it is farther away, changes shape when viewed from another angle, disappears behind another object, or appears to converge into the distance, you are already dealing with perspective.
Perspective Is Not Just Drawing
Many people first meet perspective as a method for drawing streets, rooms or buildings using vanishing points. This is an important part of perspective, but it is only one part.
Perspective also concerns how things appear when we look at them, how lenses and cameras form images, how photographs and films represent space, and how computers create or analyse views of the world.
In its broadest sense, perspective connects spatial reality with the ways it is seen, imaged and represented.
Perspective Is Everywhere
You encounter perspective whenever you:
- look down a road or railway line;
- see a nearby object appear larger than a distant one;
- look at a building from above or below;
- take a photograph or make a film;
- draw or paint a three-dimensional scene;
- look into a mirror;
- view a map, architectural drawing or scientific image;
- use a video game, virtual-reality system or 3D computer model.
These experiences may look very different, but they all involve relationships between space, viewpoint, appearance and representation.
Three Easy Ways to Think About Perspective
For a beginner, it is useful to think about perspective in three simple ways:
- Looking — how spatial reality appears from a particular position.
- Imaging — how an eye, lens or camera forms a view or image.
- Representing — how space or appearance is shown in a drawing, photograph, film, diagram or digital image.
The deeper sections of this website examine the many different kinds, methods and effects that occur within and between these processes.
Why Things Change with Viewpoint
Move your head and the scene changes. Walk towards an object and it appears larger. Look at a rectangular table from an angle and its apparent shape changes. Stand behind one object and it may hide another.
Perspective helps us describe and understand these changes.
This is why perspective matters not only to artists, but also to photographers, architects, filmmakers, scientists, engineers, designers, computer-vision researchers and anyone interested in how we see and represent space.
A Much Bigger Subject Than It First Appears
Perspective has been studied for centuries in art, geometry, optics, photography, architecture, vision science and many other fields.
The Perspective Research Centre brings this dispersed knowledge together so that the different parts of the subject can be studied in relation to one another.
You do not need to understand the larger theory to use this website. Start with the subjects that interest you and go deeper only when you want to.
Where Should I Go Next?
If you are completely new to perspective:
Introduction to Perspective →
If you want to know why perspective matters:
Why Study Perspective? →
If you want to understand what the word perspective means:
Meaning of Perspective →
If you want a more precise definition:
Perspective Defined →
If you want to explore the deeper theory:
Perspective Theory & Concepts Index →
If you want to see where perspective is used:
Applications of Perspective →
If you have a particular question:
Search Perspective Questions & Answers →
Start Here
How to Use This Site · Who We Are · What Perspective Is · Introduction to Perspective · Why Study Perspective? · Meaning of Perspective · Perspective Errors and Misconceptions