[pentuxgb]

I didn't really understand much of this article, but I still found it interesting & well written, I hope other also find it interesting...

https://www.alexbond.com.au/understanding-large-format-camera-movements/

[photoptimist]

Shift and tilt can be really really useful in photography. (Note: although tilt and shift are primarily the domain of large format cameras, a few shift-lenses and tilt-shift lenses exist for smaller format cameras, too)

Up-down/ left-right shift (of the lens and film) enables perspective control and has several uses. First, it can be used to eliminate keystoning (making the parallel sides of a tall building look parallel in the image). That's very useful for architectural images where you want the rectangular shapes the building, windows, and rooms to be rectangles and not trapezoids. Second, shift can also be used to exaggerate keystoning by forcing parallel lines to converge to increase the sense of receding distances or heights. Third, shift can be used for panoramic tiling -- taking two or more images at the up/down or left/right limits of shifting and stitching them together. Fourth, shift can also be used artfully -- over-shifting an image so the top of a building or mountain seems to grow larger and loom over the viewer.

Tilt enables control of the plane of focus which can be insanely powerful because it often allows the photographer to control exactly which objects in the image are in focus even if those objects are at different distances from the camera. That linked Alex Bond article showed the use of tilt to bring the sloping face of a waterfall into focus with both lower-foreground and upper-background elements in focus. Or it can be used to bring a whole field of flowers in focus. In theory, tilt can create a plane of focus on any three objects in the scene. For example, that could be an empty second-setting on a small table, the eyes of a waiting person seated on the opposite side of the table, and the clock behind and above the person showing that the second person is 12 minutes late. Tilt can also be used artfully in the so-called "toy-macro" effect in which tilt is used to throw both the distant background (on one side of the image) and nearby foreground (on the other side of the image) out of the focus, creating an very narrow strip of in-focus subject matter. Used on a landscape or city-scape the result looks like a macro photo of a miniature diorama.

Tilt is much more powerful and more unique than shift. It's worth noting that digital post processing can readily create the perspective-control shift effects by resampling the image to stretch one side and compress the other. Admittedly, the digital version of shift will be inferior to a good lens-shifted image because it requires cropping a trapezoidal chunk out of the original and compressing/stretching the pixels which loses resolution.

In contrast, tilt (especially tilt that bring different parts of the scene into focus) cannot be accurately replicated by post processing. If parts of the non-tilted image are really out of focus, that lost detail cannot be recovered (unless you use AI that puts in fake but plausible details). The closest one can get to simulating tilt without a tilt lens or tilt movements is by focus-stacking and then selectively defocusing parts of the stack. That said, focus stacking does have the advantage of bringing everything into focus if that is what is needed.


Overall, tilt and shift provide really interesting tools for a photographer who wants more control over the plane of focus and perspective relationships within the image. That said, the complex interactions of tilt and shift imply that it takes time to both master these controls and time to set-up a photograph. For some people, that complexity and challenge will be a delight while others will quickly grow frustrated.

Tilt and shift aren't for auto-everything "spray-and-pray" photographers. That said, a veteran user of tllt and shift could certainly preset the movements and have a good intuition of how to compose great "decisive moment" images with those presets. If you know what you are doing, a tilt-shift lens on a DSLR could be used for very interesting run-and-gun street photography.

[tuco]

I think I'm one of the few PF members who actively posts sheet film shots from a view camera. It takes me a long time to focus for these setups. But I find them fun to do on rainy days when I'm itching to take some pictures.

The rear standard movement on a view camera is the most significant at geometry correction and other effects. The front rise on a tilt/sift lens mounted on say a SLR/DSLR to correct vertical convergence is a special case and not adaptable to as many situations as a view camera with rear standard movements.

Here are three examples of employing movements of the Schempflug effect to get deep DOF in a closeup shot.


Using a Caltar-S II MC 210mm lens:


Tools by tuco, on Flickr


Schneider Symmar-S 180mm f5.6


Repeated Listening @ 33 1/3 RPM by tuco, on Flickr


One rule of the Schempflug setup is taller objects need to be in the back of the scene because the DOF tapers from 'thin' in front to increasingly 'thicker' with distance.
CM Fujinon W 135/5.6


DIY by tuco, on Flickr





Here, the rear standard was tilted to correct for vertical divergent lines and the front standard was rotated/tilted to match the front of the subject giving more effective DOF for only f8 on a 210mm lens (≈58mm on a FF) this close.


Mamiya C3 by tuco, on Flickr


And again here using the same movements as above from a recent post:
Rodenstock apo-macro-sironar 180mm


Corkscrew by tuco, on Flickr


Here the plane of focus was twisted until I got three parts of the scene in focus.


Apple Peeler by tuco, on Flickr


Basic front tilt and rotation enough to encompass the shoes.
CM Fujinon W 135/5.6


Legs and Feet by tuco, on Flickr


And an easy one to focus
Caltar-S II MC 210mm


AKG Perception 200 by tuco, on Flickr

[Pioneer]

Thank you Tuco. Those are excellent examples, as well as excellent photographs.

[jlstrawman]

I agree. Very impressive images.

[tuco]

Thank you Tuco. Those are excellent examples, as well as excellent photographs.

I agree. Very impressive images.

Thanks

[acoufap]

I think I'm one of the few PF members who actively posts sheet film shots from a view camera. It takes me a long time to focus for these setups. But I find them fun to do on rainy days when I'm itching to take some pictures.

The rear standard movement on a view camera is the most significant at geometry correction and other effects. The front rise on a tilt/sift lens mounted on say a SLR/DSLR to correct vertical convergence is a special case and not adaptable to as many situations as a view camera with rear standard movements.

Here are two examples of employing movements of the Schempflug effect to get deep DOF in a closeup shot.


Using a Caltar-S II MC 210mm lens:


Tools by tuco, on Flickr


Schneider Symmar-S 180mm f5.6


Repeated Listening @ 33 1/3 RPM by tuco, on Flickr


Here, the rear standard was tilted to correct for vertical divergent lines and the front standard was rotated/tilted to match the front of the subject giving more effective DOF for only f8 on a 210mm lens (≈58mm on a FF) this close.


Mamiya C3 by tuco, on Flickr


And again here using the same movements as above from a recent post:


Corkscrew by tuco, on Flickr


Here the plane of focus was twisted until I got three parts of the scene in focus.


Apple Peeler by tuco, on Flickr

wonderful pictures - many thanks for sharing!

[tuco]

wonderful pictures - many thanks for sharing!

Thanks

[pentuxgb]

I think I'm one of the few PF members who actively posts sheet film shots from a view camera. It takes me a long time to focus for these setups. But I find them fun to do on rainy days when I'm itching to take some pictures.

The rear standard movement on a view camera is the most significant at geometry correction and other effects. The front rise on a tilt/sift lens mounted on say a SLR/DSLR to correct vertical convergence is a special case and not adaptable to as many situations as a view camera with rear standard movements.

Here are two examples of employing movements of the Schempflug effect to get deep DOF in a closeup shot.


Using a Caltar-S II MC 210mm lens:


Tools by tuco, on Flickr


Schneider Symmar-S 180mm f5.6


Repeated Listening @ 33 1/3 RPM by tuco, on Flickr


Here, the rear standard was tilted to correct for vertical divergent lines and the front standard was rotated/tilted to match the front of the subject giving more effective DOF for only f8 on a 210mm lens (≈58mm on a FF) this close.


Mamiya C3 by tuco, on Flickr


And again here using the same movements as above from a recent post:


Corkscrew by tuco, on Flickr


Here the plane of focus was twisted until I got three parts of the scene in focus.


Apple Peeler by tuco, on Flickr

wow, those pictures are stunning

[Wheatfield]

As tuco so masterfully showed and Photoptimist explained in detail, the reason for camera movements is to allow for great depth of field control in formats that have very little inherent depth of field and to true up optical distortions such as keystoning.
You might want to do a quick search for Scheimpflug effect which is what lens and film tilts are about.
With camera tilts and swings I was able to acquire depth of field that was impossible even with APS-C format cameras, and with lens and film shifts was able to offset the camera enough to avoid getting myself in pictures that had reflective objects such as mirrors in them.

[ehrwien]

and with lens and film shifts was able to offset the camera enough to avoid getting myself in pictures that had reflective objects such as mirrors in them.

That triggered a thought: before the digital age (I assume postprocessing is how this is tackled nowadays), did they use this for scenes in movies where they wanted to avoid the camera to be seen?

[Wheatfield]

That triggered a thought: before the digital age (I assume postprocessing is how this is tackled nowadays), did they use this for scenes in movies where they wanted to avoid the camera to be seen?

I don't have any experience on movie sets, the closest I ever got was doing a bit of foley work, but my understanding was that the mirror would be rotated slightly to keep the camera out of the scene.

[tuco]

wow, those pictures are stunning

Thanks