Perspective in real life

Something flat-earters have substantially misunderstood is the concept of perspective.  It is not a natural law for light.  Instead, it is a method for depicting things on a flat surface.  When one sees things with an unaided eye perspective only matters if it is too far away to judge its distance.  We can only automatically judge distance over a relatively short one.  This is about as far as a fit person can throw a rock.  Farther away than that we see as if it was a flat surface.

Perspective can make things look like they were bigger or smaller.  It can also make things look like they are close together.  In contrast, it does not affect in which direction something is seen.  For this reason, it can only hide an object if there is another one in the strait line between the object and the viewer.  Things don’t disappear from view just because they are too far away.  They instead disappear because other things are in the way.  Alternatively, one can’t discern them.

There is another effect of perspective which matter in this context.  Flat discs which are far away may appear more elongated.  This depends on at which angle one sees a flat disc.  Balls in contrast always look as if they have the same shape.  I have taken three photos demonstrating this:

 

 

 

 

Please note that all three photos have been taken directly from my camera.  The ball is an Earth globe from the 50ies I inherited from my parents.  (It was the best ball I had.)  The flat disc is cut out of paper.  Do you think the disc look completely round even in the lowest photo?  Then you are far too bad at judging what proportions shapes on a flat surface have.

 

Uploaded on the 10th of October 2023.