Looks can be deceiving. Two Danish photographers set out to prove that to the world.

During these scary times, maintaining a safe distance from other people is essential. Even though many countries are easing their quarantine restrictions, the pandemic is not over yet. But can photos really show if people are doing the right thing?

Two enthusiastic photographers, Ólafur Steinar Gestsson and Philip Davali conducted an interesting experiment for a photo agency called Ritzau Scanpix. The two artists took photos of the same people on the same day, but with two different lenses.

The idea is to take pictures from different perspectives; the first is a wide-angle lens, and the other is a telephoto lens. The photos show a dramatic difference in the distance between these people, which makes us think more about the pictures we see every day.

Telephoto-lens

Wide angle

Kristian Djurhuus, the editorial manager at Ritzau Scanpix, told Bored Panda how he came up with this idea: "The proximity of people has widely been debated in Denmark in the past weeks. Danish politicians and authorities have frequently referred to images which they believed to show members of the public behaving in disagreement with the general guidelines."

Telephoto-lens

Wide angle

As a national photo news agency that offers important visual coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic "we became aware that our contribution could be misread," Djurhuus explained.

The critical situation we are facing has created a new meaning to basic technical facts, such as choosing the angle and perspective. "The technical choices have never been a debatable issue in the history of photography," said Djurhuus.

Telephoto-lens

Wide angle

As the issue of misreading photography is considered to be relatively new, people should be aware of its potential risks. "As producers of photography, we have a responsibility to draw attention to the fact that images in some cases do not show the proximity of objects as people seem to believe," Djurhuus said.

To make sure nothing would be misunderstood, according to Djurhuus, we should clarify the circumstances in the images' captions.

Telephoto-lens

Wide angle

The wide-angle lens is very close to the way the human eyes see. Ólafur Steinar Gestsson said to a local Danish website: "it takes wider pictures, and as a photographer, you use it when you are close to what you need to photograph." Similar to these lenses are the ones we see on our phones.

The telephoto lens, on the other hand, is a long lens used to photograph press conferences, soccer matches, or whatever situation where you have a distant subject. "It gets closer to what you are photographing, and in a way, it pulls the subject together," he said.

Telephoto-lens

Wide angle

Ólafur told TV2 that people should be aware of the lenses and equipment photographers use to take pictures. "If there was a description in the caption of how the image was taken, the editor would have the freedom to choose."

He added that photographers "must always keep in mind how we do our job, especially in times of the corona crisis."

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