


Home | Activities and links | Tiny pants photo challenge
Using a simple trick of perspective, you can dress your friends in tiny cutout clothing.
Draw some pants or find a pants photo in a magazine.
Use a small aperture, turn off the flash, and if possible, shoot your photos outside, in bright sunlight.
You can also make tiny shirts, or other things to wear.
The illusion that the tiny pants “fit” is based on the way you perceive size and distance.
With both eyes open, you can perceive depth—so if an object is farther away, your brain tells you that it’s larger.
When you close one eye, you impair your depth perception, so your brain can’t easily tell that your friend is much bigger than the pants.
It depends on the size and length of the pants, and on how far the pants are from your eye.
Try making two pairs of tiny pants, one twice as big as the other. Measure how far away your friend has to stand for each pair to fit.
You’ll find that your friend needs to stand half as far away when the pants are twice as big. If the pants were four times as big, your friend would need to stand one-fourth of the distance away.
Geometry Playground is made possible by the National Science Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Credits
© 2010 Exploratorium | The
museum of science, art and human perception
Home |
About |
Contact |
Directions |
Donations |
Membership |
Privacy Policy |
Use Policy |
Press Office |
Museum Rentals