Perspective in Photography on Samsung Galaxy

Most photos we take with our phones are taken from chest height because that’s where our hands are.

Changing where you take photos from is the easiest, most inexpensive way to make your photos different, changing the relative size of objects, what’s in the background and the relationship between the elements of your photo.

On a Galaxy phone, which lens you use determines how much of this vantage point you can include in your picture.

Camera angles and the lens for each

Different angles will put the viewer in different relationships with your subject. We’ve indicated which lens might be a good starting point, but telephotos are only available on some Galaxy phones.

Low angle shots

Point your phone up from a low position, 30 to 40cm high, to make subjects look bigger and more dramatic. This is the first phone photography trick to learn because it has three effects at once: the subject appears dominant, you can keep a simple background (usually sky), and foreground objects look disproportionately large. The S23 Ultra to S26 Ultra's 0.6x ultra-wide setting is even better for this trick thanks to its extremely wide 120-degree angle (according to GSMArena). It allows you to get really close to a subject while keeping it all in frame, exaggerating its size. Statues, bicycles, etc. work particularly well as graphic silhouettes. If you want to get even lower with your phone, hold it upside down since the cameras are at the top. Avoid including the horizon in low angle shots unless you're certain it is straight, as even a slight tilt looks unintentional. For roads and rails, try our leading lines photo ideas. We have fifteen of these to play with.

High angle and overhead shots

For a flat lay, try to get directly over the table, keeping your phone parallel to the surface (there’s a handy level in Samsung’s Composition guide setting to help you). Even the tiniest tilt will show as a distortion with one side of the table looking larger than the other. You should also stand back a little further than you think you need to (you can always crop in later), as shooting too close will distort the perspective, making objects towards the edges of the frame look unnaturally stretched. Balconies and footbridges are perfect for flattening out the hustle and bustle of street markets into colourful patterns of people and produce. The lack of a horizon line lends itself especially well to food photography. Higher resolution is handy for cropping in images, and the 200MP main camera in the S23 Ultra and subsequent Ultra phones offers that. The resolution guide breaks down when it’s worth using the higher-res shooting modes. The food photography guide covers lighting for overhead tables. Shooting from a high vantage point can make a bustling street scene look like a miniature model. Our tilt-shift guide shows you how to give your photos an extra touch of blur with Snapseed.

Tilted horizons and the Dutch angle

In film, the Dutch angle is a great way to create movement and tension. It can also work really well in street photography. The idea is simply to tilt the camera so that the horizon line in the frame is at an angle. It’s important to make it obvious that you’ve done this on purpose, as if the horizon line is just a couple of degrees out of true, it’ll just look like a mistake.

Use the grid lines on your camera to help you see how much you’ve tilted things, and use a strong vertical element (such as a lamp post or doorway) as a guide. You also need to use the Dutch angle sparingly, as if every image in a set is Dutch angled then it becomes tiring for the viewer.

Try it out for yourself, as it can work particularly well where there’s already some movement or energy in the scene (think crowds in stations or cyclists), but images such as landscapes are often better with the horizon level.

Telephoto compression

Telephoto lenses are often credited with causing “telephoto compression” (the effect where objects in the distance appear unnaturally close to objects in the foreground) but this isn’t quite accurate. As PhotoReview points out, perspective is determined by shooting distance, not focal length, and focal length only dictates how large the subject and background will appear in-frame. So, to get that huge moon behind a city skyline shot, walk backwards until the moon appears as large as you want it to be relative to the foreground elements, and then use a telephoto zoom to fill the frame. Samsung’s three most recent Ultra flagships (the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S26 Ultra) have both 3x and 5x telephoto cameras (with the latter being the 111mm-equivalent camera per GSMArena), and can also digitally crop in on the 50MP 5x camera to achieve what Samsung refers to as optical quality zoom at 10x (the previous-gen Galaxy S23 Ultra actually had a dedicated 10x telephoto camera). With the telephoto lens guide you can move through the zoom levels one step at a time.

Ultra-wide distortion

In ultra-wide photos, objects that are closer to the camera will seem much larger than objects that are farther away. Shapes near the edges of the frame will also be stretched.

Shooting buildings with the 0.6x from close by and pointing the phone upwards will exaggerate the height of the structure, and make it seem like the walls are leaning in towards each other as they go up. This effect can lend a dramatic and graphic quality to buildings.

However, this same distortion can have undesirable effects in other scenarios. People who are near the edges of ultra-wide photos can end up looking unnaturally stretched, and facial features may be warped. When shooting people with the 0.6x, make sure they’re positioned near the centre of the frame. And if you’re trying to capture a tall building in its entirety, try moving further away from the structure so that its lines won’t bend too dramatically (or be prepared to edit the effect away).

The 0.6x can also be used to play with scale. Objects that are very close to the front of the lens will seem gigantic. Try it with a coffee cup or your own hand!

Perspective in portraits

Wide lenses don’t actually distort faces, as explained by Imaging Resource. It’s that you’re standing closer to fill the frame that distorts. When you take a portrait from close range, the tip of the nose and chin are considerably closer to the camera than the ears, so they appear disproportionately large. Instead, take a step or two back, and shoot with the 3x telephoto for head-and-shoulders portraits. Or try Portrait mode. Position the camera at eye level or just above. Shooting from below puts emphasis on the chin and nostrils, which rarely flatters. For environmental portraits, use the 1x main camera at eye level, leaving plenty of room around the subject. The Portrait mode guide covers background blur and lighting effects.

Galaxy settings that help with perspective

Some of these can be especially helpful if you're struggling to get a feel for angles on a small screen.

Depending on which version of One UI you're running, some of these options may have slightly different names, so look for the closest match.

1. 1

   Turn on grid lines and the level

   If you’re running One UI 7 or later, head into Camera settings and enable Composition guide. Otherwise, enable Grid lines. Composition guide adds a level and grid to assist you with composing. With One UI 9 you can also enable Grid lines only, or Level only, which could be helpful when shooting flat lays as it keeps the viewfinder uncluttered (checked on a Galaxy S25 Ultra, November 2026).

2. 2

   Use the level for flat lays

   Hold your Galaxy above your subject and move it around until it’s level. Then take your shot.

3. 3

   Switch to the ultra-wide for low angles

   Select 0.6x and crouch down with your Galaxy as close to the ground as possible. Then angle it upwards towards your subject.

4. 4

   Step back for compression

   Walk away from your subject until the background looks large enough. Then select 3x or 5x to frame it.

5. 5

   Check the edges before you shoot

   Keep an eye out for distortion at the edges of the frame when using the ultra-wide. Straight lines and people’s faces can appear unnaturally stretched, so compose carefully and move them closer to the centre of the frame if necessary.

Correcting perspective after the shot

Tilt your phone upwards to take a photo of a building and the top will lean away from you. This effect can be corrected to some extent using the Perspective tool in Google’s Snapseed or the geometry controls in Lightroom mobile. Both do this by stretching one part of the image and cropping around the edges so you’ll lose some of the picture and a little resolution. It’s best therefore to leave some room around the subject in case you want to do this. Minor corrections are fine but try correcting a photo by too much and people and spherical objects will appear to be stretched. Having lots of pixels to play with means you can crop in more and still have a decent size image afterwards, which is why 50MP or even 200MP mode on the latest Galaxy flagships is useful for architecture photography. Our Lightroom vs Snapseed comparison helps you select an editor. For more on how framing creates depth, see the depth guide.