Photo distance influences perception

Caltech study shows that the distance at which facial photos are taken influences perception.

Thursday, 27 September 2012 // by Katie Neith // Story Source // machineslikeus.com

[...] "It turns out that faces photographed quite close-up are geometrically warped, compared to photos taken at a larger distance," explains Bryan. "Of course, the close picture would also normally be larger, higher resolution and have different lighting—but we controlled for all of that in our study. What you're left with is a warping effect that is so subtle that nobody in our study actually noticed it. Nonetheless, it's a perceptual clue that influenced their judgments."

That subtle distance warping, however, had a big effect: close-up photos made people look less trustworthy, according to study participants. The close-up photo subjects were also judged to look less attractive and competent.[...]

Source: http://machineslikeus.com/news/photo-distance-influences-perception