Chapter 3 of Alice Elizabeth Chase’s Looking at Art begins by describing a view from a great height. When we observe scenery we realize that nearby objects are big and clear, their colors appear brighter. On the other hand, objects that are farther away seem smaller and blurrier. If you were to take photo with a camera it would register exactly how that image looks at that moment. However, an artist’s job is much more difficult for he/she cannot present everything in the vast expanse of their field of view. Therefore, they must learn to confine their view and project it onto a limited space. This means focusing on a smaller part of the whole to avoid the risk of making the painting too small. An artist’s job is not to merely replicate but to create his own image. They must not illustrate how a camera would see the view but how he/she sees the view. This involves accentuating certain aspects through the use of different shading, lighting, or artistic style. Rarely did artists portray a scene, as the naked eye would observe it. For example, ancient Egyptians had a “map-like” style in which they omitted details and focused more on the location of the objects. Setting was also a very important factor for some artists like the Greeks who preferred the use of trees and rock when painting people. However, the ancient Romans preferred a more gaudy setting. They didn’t really leave much to the imagination when they painted war heroes with banners in the cities they had conquered.

In Chapter 4, Chase depicts a photographer who is taking a photo of people in action. She describes the difficulty of the situation due to the imperfect nature of objects in motion from a single perspective. Often when you take a picture of multiple subjects in motion their bodies will overlap and the picture may appear cramped. You can try to stage it and plan everyone’s location but more often than not it will appear staged and awkward. Throughout history, artists have tried to develop techniques to combat this flaw and have had some success with it. For example, the ancient Egyptians did not really care much for depth and focused only on showing the entire body of the subjects. However, as time went on people sought more effective means of accurately portraying what they saw.