The little BIG world of tilt-shift photography
I have a confession to make: I am mildly obsessed with just about anything that is of an abnormal scale/size. This includes (but is not limited to) dogs that are of the “giant” or teeny-tiny variety like newfoundlands or teacup and micro sized dogs, or furniture that is impossibly huge or ridiculously small like the giant adirondack chair located DC or the mini 1950s style playball chair that is just the right size for my three-year old daughter. Also included in my mild obsession? Train sets and dollhouses.
This image was taken with my Android phone and the phone app Pixlr-o-matic as reviewed by my fellow writer David Pringle some weeks ago. It is a snippet of the amazing train set display done at the science center in Pittsburgh every year around this time. Hard to believe but this was maybe 1/10th of the whole set up!
This is another image taken with the same phone app as the above image. This one I tweaked slightly though to make it appear as if it truly is one taken from way back when it historically could have been taken with regard to the part of the train set (the coal miners camps) that is pictured.
So what does this have to do with photography? (Since that IS what we are here for, right?) Well, it’s got a LOT to do with photography. Why? Because there just happens to be a type of photography that goes right to the heart of my love for these miniature views of life. Say “hello” to Tilt-shift photography.
Ever heard of tilt-shift photography? It’s not hugely popular by it’s name because it is so much more easily recognizable by the way it looks. Here are some classic examples of tilt-shift photography. (If these aren’t enough to convince you of the coolness factor of tilt-shifting check out this flickr group devoted entirely to it.)
Kind of amazing to behold isn’t it? It is because of the “magic” that is the tilt-shift lens that makes it all possible. A tilt-shift lens achieves this fake miniaturized effect by using a selective focus on one portion of the frame of an image. The lens is designed such that it can be bent (or rather tilted) to an angle relative to the image plane (within the camera body) which then shifts the orientation of the plane of focus of one part of the image so that it is sharply focused in juxtaposition with the rest of the image. (The Scheimpflug principle is the reason why it happens this way.) Is what I just incredibly difficult to follow understand? Well, whether or not you followed it or not doesn’t matter anyway because we can just agree that it looks REALLY cool and that’s the point of this to begin with.
Anyway, can you believe that these pictures would be correctly proportioned if they were only taken with a standard lens and not a tilt-shift lens? Too bad the whole world of tilt-shift photography is so cost prohibitive because of how pricey the lenses are. (Too many of them are in the range of closer to a thousand dollars at least.) Even things like lens babies (an alternative to the actual lenses) still cost a pretty penny enough that it’s hard to justify such an expensive to satisfy an unreasonably obsession like what I have. Let’s not dwell on seemingly impossible dreams here though, okay? I have an incredibly cost effective approach to tilt-shifting. Guess what! You can “fake” the tilt-shift effect with a very quick and simple photoshop tutorial. Check it out in this completely do-able tilt-shift photography tutorial for photoshop that will walk you through the steps of taking an image you already have and digitally rendering it with some tilt-shift magic.
Something else you can do if you don’t have photoshop. How about using lenses you already have? You can always use what you got and do a little Freelensing a la the legendary Ryan Brenizer. Be forewarned though! This method and technique is NOT something for the faint of heart or unsteady of hand since it requires you do to something exactly like taking the lens off of your camera body mid-shutter hit and then physically holding it in a bit of a hover in just the right way in front of your camera body. Does it sound a bit challenging? Well. It is. Trust me! (I’ve tried it with less than stellar results.) However, I’m sure that it is something that you certainly could master with decent practice so that’s why I even mention it here and now.
And last but not least, you can always give the Tilt-shift maker a whirl. I mention this last only because it requires the bare minimum of effort and why work smarter when you can work harder? All you’ll need is a photograph of your choice and then you just point-click and *voila* you’ve got a tilt-shift image with hardly any fuss.
Have I made you a fan of tilt-shift photography? Please share your best tilt-shift efforts via the comment section below. If you still aren’t convinced of all of its awesomeness and as yet refuse to join the ranks of its fandom, well (I assure you) I am more than enough of a fan to make up for whomever still doesn’t like this the biggest little images there ever could be in the photographic medium.
Andrea Ream Ellwood is a visual artist who splits her time among various mediums: 10+ years of experience in freelance photography, high school art education, visual design consulting for print and web, and free form soft sculpturing of fun hats and toys for family and friends. She lives and works in the Washington DC metro area with her husband and daughter. You can view some of her photographic work at http://andreareamphotography.com or follow her on Twitter @dreampraycreate
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