articles/Lens/shift-page2

The Shift and Tilt Lenses - part 2 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

by Mike McNamee Published 01/10/2014

We have published Paul Gallagher's Kilbrannan Sound image before. Shot with 1° tilt at f13 with a grad filter, it displays acute sharpness throughout the image; the small amount of tilt has had a huge impact on the image quality in the near ground. The lens used was the Nikkor

What do TS lenses do?

There are six basic things you can do with tilt-shift:
1. Correct converging verticals (Shift)
2. Panoramic shots (Shift vertically or horizontally effective pixel doubling)
3. Avoiding obstructions or reflections (Shift)
4. Toy town effects (Tilt)
5. Sideways tilt for depth of field changes (Swing)
6. Increasing depth of field in landscape (Tilt usually downward)

Shift

This pushes the lens at right angles to the optical axis. Typically it saves having to 'lean' camera back which creates ugly converging verticals, the shift brings the tops of a building into view while the camera is kept perfectly horizontal. Some users prefer to leave in a little residual convergence as a perfectly straight-sided building tends to look as if it is falling over in the print.

The top image does not need any help from shift, the bottom image could not be accomplished without it. Images Paul Gallagher.

As well as this, shift may be used as a 'pixel doubler'. You take one shot with the shift over one side followed by another with the shift over to the other side. Joining the two images in Photoshop produces a file with almost double the number of real pixels. Shift may also be used to get 'around' objects obstructing the field of view. The classic example of this is shooting a mirror, head-on, without the camera showing in the image.

Tilt

Tilt is complicated. The depth of field is normally spread either side of the focus plane but when tilt is applied the 'volume' in focus changes into a wedge (think if a slice of Wensleydale Grommit!) extending from below the camera and out into the distance. The wedge itself becomes more voluminous if a smaller aperture is used, ie the angle of its faces is spread further apart.

• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 1
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 2
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 3
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 4
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 5
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 6
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 7
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 8
  
• The Shift and Tilt Lenses page 9
  

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