Why does a stadium look bigger on TV than it does in person?
Asked 4/17/2016
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2 answers
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I visited a cricket stadium that I’d often seen on television. On TV it looked huge, but in person it felt much smaller. What causes this difference in apparent size? I’m especially interested in explanations involving camera lenses, field of view, and how human vision perceives scale.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
5
Short answer:
Lenses and field of view.
Long answer:
Your eyes work very much like a camera, with field of view for binocular vision at about 115 degrees.
According to this site, the true central focus field of view is around 40-60 degree. Now pulling out another site that I found here, you can see that for a normal AFS-C (DX format) sensor, around 20-30mm fits the field of view of the eyes. The images here are more natural to look at.
Now for your case, the videographer has chosen to use larger sensor (likely for high-end professional device) or/and shorter focal length.
Now given the photo above, you can clearly see that you will feel that the place is larger when you have lower focal length, which in turn have a larger field of view.
The stadium is especially photograph/videoed in such a way that it will feel magnificent, so that it will grip the viewers attention. As your question said, the player seems need to be very good to hit the cricket balls out of ground, and this makes the show more entertaining.
And without proper depth of field, your eyes trick you into thinking it's really huge.
Edit: How depth of field changes everything.
Picture on left shows more distance separation, making the model plane smaller; picture on the far right is very flat and the whole thing seems bigger.
Picture shows how manipulation of depth of field can make stadium look like a miniature toy.
Originally by user49736. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user49736
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The main reason is field of view. Camera lenses can show a scene differently from how it feels to your eyes.
Wide-angle lenses capture a larger angle of view, which can make spaces look more expansive. In stadium coverage, the camera is often positioned to show a broad view of the field and seating, so the venue appears larger than it feels when you’re standing in it.
Human vision is more complex than a single camera lens: although our total binocular field of view is wide, our strongest central attention is concentrated in a smaller area. Because of that, a camera image made with a wider lens can look more “spread out” than your natural impression on location.
Perspective and viewing context also matter. On TV, you’re seeing a framed image from a chosen position, often one that emphasizes scale. When you visit in person, you experience the space from ground level and with more visual cues for real size, so it may feel smaller.
So the effect is mostly due to lens choice, camera position, and the difference between a recorded image’s field of view and human visual perception.
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