PhotoFidelity

Height is another perspective cue you can add to your photos to give them a sense of depth.

What is height perspective? Well, the following working definition comes from Basic Photographic Techniques (U.S. Navy training manual) (incidentally, a number of other excellent and basic composition articles are available at Photo Composition Articles).

The place where the base of an object is located on the ground in a picture is a clue to its distance from the camera viewpoint; for example, in a landscape scene, the ground or ground plane rises toward the horizon. The higher up in the ground area of the picture (up to the that the base of an object is located, the further away it seems from the viewpoint and the greater its height perspective.

Stairs are one example of height perspective. You can easily see, from the following examples, how photos that include stairs add a real sense of depth.

  by  extranoise 

  by  Chi King 

  by  jeffk 

  by  David Paul Ohmer