Just as shooting from above can add drama and interest to a normal everyday scene, shooting up from a low angle can give your subject new perspective. In this assignment look for opportunities to shoot your world from the lowest possible angles. Natural depressions, below ground stairwells, crouching down and even lying flat on the ground are all workable approaches.

There is a great blue heron rookery just blocks from my apartment so opportunities to photograph the big gangly birds abound. Looking for fresh approaches to shooting herons I stood under a tree full of nests, shooting straight up to capture this one as it came in for a landing.

Setting out to hike the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, I placed the camera in a tidal pool, holding it just above the water’s surface to capture the view from a hermit crab’ s perspective.

A low perspective and a wide-angle lens turns a mole hill into a mountain, exaggerating the ordeal these Osaka salarymen must overcome simply to cross the street.

Again, shooting up into a break in the rainforest canopy gave me access to delicately backlit ferns sprouting from the trunk of deadwood.

All photographs were taken by Brian Grover. To browse more images visit my photo gallery here: Brian Grover Photography.

#15 Close Cropping <<->> #17 Foto-Grafix in the Key of High & Low