Telephoto fear: Japanese photojournalist shows how lenses affect views of crowds amid virus
January 26, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Two photos taken from the same spot show Tokyo's Harajuku district on Jan. 21, 2021. The one on the left was shot with a 28-millimeter wide angle lens, and the one on the right with a 300-mm telephoto lens. In the left image, the distance between the people is obvious, but that sense of perspective is weak in the right image. However, the right image gives a good view of people's facial expressions, and how many of them are wearing masks. (Mainichi/Hiroshi Maruyama)
TOKYO -- One photography-specific term that has been flying around since the coronavirus pandemic took hold is "compression effect," also called "lens compression." In short, lens compression occurs when a telephoto lens is used to shoot large groups of people from a distance. Perspective is flattened, making the people look much closer together than they actually are. In the context of the pandemic, this has sparked accusations that photojournalists are "overproducing" or even "fabricating" the scenes they shoot.