Making your own perspective

Exhibit A: Ignore the, "this photographer is so weird," expression.  Critique, a little too much head room.

It may not be readily apparent but this is pretty high up [see the obstacles in the lower left? yeah, those aren't for small children] the fact that it's high up is perspective enough right? Maybe.

The above photograph wasn't shot at eye level, heck it wasn't even shot level. But it was shot uniquely.

Here is a more standard photo where I shot it eye level. Don't get me wrong, eye level is great, if you're shooting kids eye level can be wonderful; but you're going to have to get down to their eye level not your own.

Okay so lets compare and contrast. [Ideally I would have shot the same subject in the same location for this to be a really good teaching example. But, sometimes we work with what we got.]

They both are shot from a tower, a fairly unique perspective in and of itself. They both have subjects in points of interest. And they both have British soldiers in them; aka a clear subject. So, really what's the major difference? Well subjectivity of course.

I recently was in a photo group that slammed a fellow photographer for using a dutch angle on a mundane photo. I personally didn't see a problem with it. why not at least try to make the mundane interesting or unique? Tilting your camera is one way. Getting up high or down on your belly is another. Maybe jumping up on a top of a truck or climbing a ladder will change your whole perspective of the scene.

There is simply no reason not to change your point of view. You should change it often.