Optics and perspective.

Ok, I'm lazy.

I've drawn out numerous possibilities of how perspective would work, and none work.

Why is it a large object in the distance looks "Small"?

There is no logical reason for this simple example:

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|
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As you can see the | represents an object, and the --- represents the light coming from the object.

Now regardless of how large the object is, far enough away it is small...like a star, and yet you take the two parallel lines and have them travel to the end point (your eye), and they are still the size of the original object.

So why does light not reach you in a scattered form as it would closer up?

I'd like some references that has diagrams of the focusing and what prevents the parallel amounts of light from being the observed light and thus the maintaining the "full size" of the object, regardless of distance.

You eye has a lens as you probably know, a positive lens.

Look at figure L-2, I hope it will help a bit

Link


[Edited on 4-4-2003 by Devils Advocate]