Big or Small
How to make your subject look big or small with camera height. Four stills, four prompts, Midjourney.
The prompts
Copy them, run them, change whatever you want. No signup.
cinematic film still, a low deck-level shot of a fighter at full afterburner leaving the bow of an aircraft carrier at dusk, hot blue-white flame and heat haze tearing the air, deck crew crouched small in the foreground, warm deck floodlights and burner glow against the cool blue-grey of the sea and the failing light, immense power and scale, photorealistic, shot on 35mm, film grain, high frame rate, cinematography in the style of Claudio Miranda in Top Gun Maverick --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, recognizable actor, video game
cinematic film still, an endless column of armored soldiers marching beneath a colossal ancient stone gateway, the arch so vast the men are ants beneath it, the column stretching back to a distant horizon behind them, warm low sun raking through the arch throwing long shadows against the cool blue shade of the immense masonry, immense architectural scale, low angle, photorealistic, shot on 70mm, film grain, cinematography in the style of Andrew Lesnie --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, recognizable franchise
cinematic film still, two tiny figures fighting on the roof of a speeding train crossing an immense curved viaduct over a deep green gorge, the bridge stretching far ahead and behind them, warm low sun raking along the carriage roofs against the cool blue shadow of the gorge below, immense scale and exposure, high wide drone angle, photorealistic, shot on 70mm, film grain, cinematography in the style of Dariusz Wolski --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, recognizable actor
cinematic film still, an extreme downward look past the shoes of a figure standing on the very lip of a supertall tower, the entire city grid four hundred metres straight below in sharp focus, low cloud drifting between them and the street, warm gold sunset on the tower's glass against the cool blue haze of the streets in shadow, vertiginous immense height, photorealistic, shot on 35mm, film grain, cinematography in the style of Claudio Miranda --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, recognizable building, drone stock photo
Why it works
Where you put the camera changes how big things look. Look up at something and it looks big. Look down at something and it looks small. Each of these four prompts says where the camera is.
Put the camera low. In the carrier shot, a low deck-level shot puts the camera down on the deck. The jet is above you, so it looks big.
Look up at something tall. In the gateway shot, low angle puts the camera below the arch and points it up. The arch looks huge above the men walking under it.
Put the camera high. In the train shot, high wide drone angle puts the camera far above the bridge. The two people on the roof look tiny.
Look straight down. In the tower shot, an extreme downward look points the camera at the street far below. The buildings look tiny.
Before you run it
Use the same settings. All four were made with --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2.
To make it yours, keep the camera line and change the rest. Swap the subject and the place. Put the camera low when you want your subject to look big, and high when you want it to look small.