thanks opa and kingsnake!
basically, it's all down to the camera lens - camera doesn't matter - it's all about the lens... basically lenses range from 10mm-800mm(and even bigger), basically the bigger the 'mm' the more the zoom - the less that can fit in the picture, so the smaller the 'mm', the wider the lens, more can be squashed into the picture... it's a bit hard to describe...
the wider the lens, the more it distorts the perspective, due to trying to fit as much in the picture as possible, it also makes things appear closer/further away, whereas a zoom lens flattens the image and brings the background forwards...
you can find more about this stuff if you search camera lens optics or camera lens perspective on google...
for the note, the picture was taken on an 18mm lens... technically speaking, to reproduce the correct size in things an 80mm lens is the norm, hence why portrait photographers never ever ever step to any lens wider then 50mm, as it'll make the person have a very round head and a big nose etc...