Camera photo distortion

[Des]

How do you prevent photos being distorted when taking photos, here is an example. I took photos of my Blackburn, the side shot shows the wing as it is in real life, a nice airfoil shape, but when I took photos from another angle the wing shape changed dramatically, can this be avoided so the real shape appears in the photo??

Des.





Taking the advice from Justin and Bo, here is the comparison photo after I took the photo from a greater distance but zoomed in on the subject, there is a huge improvement so I will experiment a little more.

[Des]

Thanks Justin, I will give that a go.

Des.

[uncletony]

yes, Justin has it -- zooming in increases focal length and decreases angle of view. Wider angles of view increase the "fish-eye" phenomenon you are experiencing:

[Des]

Thanks very much Bo, that makes a lot of sense, I will now experiment.

Des.

[Russell]

Using 35mm (real) film format as an example – whilst the 50mm focal length lens is considered the ‘standard’ lens i.e. one which roughly approximates the angles/perspectives as perceived by the naked eye although some distortion still exists in reality. Portrait photographers tend to use longer focal lengths (typically 85-135mm) with the 90mm being the classic portrait lens as it removes virtually all detectable distortion. The 35mm focal length lens is a very popular choice for general photography but if used for portraits the sitters nose ends up looking rather large due to the ‘wide-angle’ effect.

For model photography (again in the context of 35mm film)  it’s never a mistake to use too long a lens but using too short a lens will distort the image.

The same rules apply to other film format sizes but what’s considered a standard or a wide angle lens varies with film size – e.g. for a 4”x5” sheet film the 150mm focal length lens is the equivalent of the 50mm focal the 35mm film. Likewise for digital although here the size of the sensor in the camera is the ‘film size’ – outwardly similar specification digital cameras can require different lenses due to the ‘virtual’ film format (size) varying due to different sensors areas. Again – err on towards the longer focal length lenses.

I use a digital camera for the ease of sending photos to friends & getting images up on the web etc. but for photography I care about I still use a Leica M4 (35mm) plus a pair of 4x5” & 8x10” sheet film cameras.

Regards
Russell 

[Des]

Thanks very much Russell for your input, it has come in very useful and gives me more information to experiment with.

Des.