Tilt shift photography is a special type of photography used by architectural, landscape and other creative photographers. They use a special type of lens called a tilt-shift lens, which can move in different directions and thus create different effects. The most notable example of this type of photography is the miniature or diorama effect.
What is Tilt Shift photography?
Tilt shift photography is a photographic genre in which photographers manipulate life-size images to resemble toy box models. This effect can be achieved optically with a tilt-shift lens when shooting. However, this type of lens can be expensive.
The good news is that you don’t always need a tilt-and-shift lens to create the effects. You can use filters in post-production software to achieve similar results.
Although tilt-shift photography has other uses, such as correcting distortion, it is famous for miniature simulation.
The Science Behind Tilt Shift Lenses
Tilt Shift lenses are specialty lenses that work slightly differently than your standard lenses. The lens is unique because it is based on a phenomenon called the Scheimpflug principlewhich states that sharp photos can be obtained when the subject, camera sensor, and focal plane intersect in a straight line.
The focal plane is always parallel to the camera sensor in standard lenses. On the other hand, a tilt shift lens has adjustments to move the barrel in different directions. This changes the position of the focal plane of the lens relative to the camera sensor. You’ll see all kinds of exciting things happen in your photos with tilt and shift lenses for the same reason.
How does a Tilt Shift lens work?
A tilt shift lens can move left to right and up and down in direction. It can also tilt up and down.
Tilt mode
With the tilt function, you can achieve different depths of field, thanks to the Scheimpflug principle. When you tilt the lens, the focal plane is no longer parallel to the camera sensor. Instead, it’s angled, allowing you to play with different depths of field to achieve different looks.
One of the creative uses for this feature is the miniature effect you get when you keep the depth of field very shallow. With a deeper depth of field, you can also get sharp images from corner to corner.
Shift mode
In shift mode, you can “shift” your lens to see above or below the camera sensor. This is handy for architectural photography to correct perspective distortion.
For example, let’s say you are photographing a tall building. When you look up and take the picture, you can see the lines of the building converging upwards.
With a tilt and shift lens, you can place your camera parallel to the building and move your lens up to get perfectly parallel lines on the building. Additionally, a tilt-and-shift lens projects a much larger image circle onto your camera’s sensor than a standard lens. In short, you can cover a larger area with your flip lens.
Where are tilt shift lenses used?
Although you may think of a tilt and shift lens as a single lens for a specific purpose, it is versatile for different types of photography.
Architectural Photography
This type of photography is where tilt and shift lenses are most commonly used. You can technically correct perspective distortion with post-production software, but using a flip lens can be very convenient and save you a lot of time.
With a tilt and shift lens, you can also take many photos and seamlessly stitch them into a panorama. But, if you use a standard lens and correct the distortion in editing software, your final panorama may not look so smooth.
landscape photography
In landscape photography, it is essential to keep natural lines like horizons and trees straight. Tilt shift lenses can help with this. You can use the offset option to achieve this.
Also, corner-to-corner sharpness is highly sought after by landscape photographers. When using your lens tilt option, you can adjust for a deeper depth of field. However, remember to use layers in your composition to make it more powerful.
Product photography
It can be difficult to get the whole product in focus for small product photography, like jewelry and watches. You may need to use advanced techniques like focus stacking to bring the whole image into focus. It may take time.
With a tilt-shift lens, you can tilt the focal plane to get a sharp image with the entire product in focus.
portrait photography
A tilt and shift lens can be a great addition if you’re a portrait photographer, as you no longer have to pose multiple models in a horizontal line. Instead, you can have people in different areas of your frame and still have all of their faces in focus.
You can also creatively blur different areas of your frame to achieve a pleasing composition.
Creative effects
People often associate tilt shift lenses with toy box looking shots. When using the tilt option on a large scene with a shallow depth of field, the resulting image looks like a diorama scene.
Photographers use the tilt feature to create unique photos that are intriguing and fun to watch.
Tilt Shift photography without a Tilt Shift lens
Are tilt-shift lenses out of your price range? You can mimic the effect of a tilt-shift lens in two ways. You can purchase a tilt shift adapter that converts your normal lens to a tilt shift lens. Or, try using Photoshop and other software to edit the image for a miniature look.
You can also use the Snapseed app on your phone to edit photos. It is developed by Google and is available for Android and iPhone.
To get the perfect diorama look, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when taking photos. First, shoot from a high angle to give the impression of looking down from above. It is best to take a wider view to accentuate the look of the toy box.
When editing, be sure to increase sharpness and play with saturation to achieve the desired look. The best subjects for tilt effects are downtown buildings, busy street intersections, bridges, and castles.
Unleash your creativity with Tilt Shift photography
If you’re in a photographic rut, try tilt-shift photography to get out of it. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get involved in rocker photography. Instead, just simulate the effects with an app or software.
Trying out different types of photography will help you improve your creativity and artistic skills.
