articles/Lens/ctt-page3

Charlotte Takes a Tilt - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5

by Mike McNamee Published 01/10/2014

Grabbing the lens while shooting nudes can present you with a whole new way of creating mystery around your subject. Photographers shooting boudoir are often asked to preserve their subject's modesty and the tilt lens is another tool in the bag to do so. Defocusing the body in a straight-on nude shot allows every part of the body to be visible while the details remain hidden.

Taking it outside

Of course using a tilt while shooting isn't limited to the studio. Its natural habitat is outside in the urban jungle stopping buildings falling over by correcting converging verticals for architectural imagery.

However, there are other great uses for a tilt lens too, especially during a wedding or a commercial shoot.

Albums with the feel of a designer magazine are all the rage right now and that means shooting with room for copy. Photographers are increasingly getting creative with all kinds of text and graphic overlays to get the designer feel that their clients want and using a TS lens to create an image can help you achieve that goal. Corporate brochure images, advertising shots and the front cover of a magazine can all benefit from having a great out-of-focus space to use for text too.

The look of the compound blur created by the TS lens can also result in a feeling of movement in the image as the bokeh almost swirls around.

With the ability to force the eye to one spot, throw unexpected areas out of focus and give a feeling of movement, a TS lens can be an interesting choice for some creative sports photography. It will require you to brush up on focussing techniques with manual lenses for sports; I have found visualising the image and pre-focussing on a spot the best way to shoot anything with action - as well as an awful lot of trial and error. I wouldn't have liked to try this approach out if I was being forced to use film!

• Charlotte Takes a Tilt page 1
  
• Charlotte Takes a Tilt page 2
  
• Charlotte Takes a Tilt page 3
  
• Charlotte Takes a Tilt page 4
  
• Charlotte Takes a Tilt page 5
  

There are 37 days to get ready for The Societies of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 17th January 2024