You Will Never Believe What’s Behind These Famous Landmarks When Zoomed Out

Taj Mahal. Mount Rushmore. New York City’s Central Park.

It’s amazing just how much can change if you switch to framing, perspective, and lighting in a photograph. This collection of picture pairs of famous landmarks around the world will show you that.

The above-named destinations around the globe may seem less or grander after you see the photos below!

Aside from the composition of these pictures, they can show you how misleading and magical photography can be.

You might imagine the grand Taj Mahal would be surrounded by pristine greenery and clear blue streams because it’s every picture you see is always taken from the same angle – the front of the landmark, with pristine trees growing on each side of the crystal clear pool in front of the palace.

However, many of us don’t know that a garbage dump (you read that right) flows freely on all sides of that very palace, telling another tale completely. Haven’t been to Niagara Falls?

You might think that it would be surrounded the deep inside of a beautiful national forest instead of skyscrapers built on the lip of a nearby cliff. Even Stonehenge, perhaps the abstruse of them all, will look less grand and more like an average tourist attraction that you might come across as cheap.

Of course, not all of these images throw away the grandeur of the landmarks. Most of these pictures all arguably look even better – or at least great in a different way – in the second photo. For example, in the Sagrada Familia’s second photo, the palace might just blend in the background or stand out, depending on how you view it. Even the second image of the blinding white city of Santorini will only serve to elevate its uniqueness against the natural land. The Forbidden City – it will just always be the center of attention, no matter how far the picture is zoomed out.

Some second pictures only serve to highlight how these landmarks are – and always will be – focal points of their cities.

h/t: thepobv