A few weeks ago I posted an article on my First Day with A Real Tilt Shift Lens. Since then I have carried it with me nearly every day, grocery shopping and subway riding - you name it. It's quite a special and fascinating piece of glass even having aged 43 years.

What is a Tilt Shift Lens? AKA Perspective Control Lens

A tilt shift or perspectivecontrol lens is a specialized lens that has the ability to moderately rotatethe image focal plane with a pitch or yaw, as well as skewthe image perspective. This is possible by additional design features that allows the lens to physically tilt, shift, and rotate.

This particular tilt-shift lens model used in the video released in 1972, the same year as Atari's release of the infamous 'Pong' video game.

As I mentioned in the previous article, a tilt-shift lens has 6 unite applications.

Miniature Effect
Correcting converging vertical lines
Avoiding obstructions or reflections
Sideways tilt
Increasing depth of field
Panoramic shots

Breaking the Rules

When using a tilt-shift lens you will find it adds a whole new dimension to everything you knew about the principles of photography. Even the simplest of cameras have two basic steps for use. Point and shoot. With a tilt-shift lens it's quite different.

The below video details the use of a real tilt-shift photography lens for use of correcting converging vertical lines, an important characteristic of architectural photography.

Keep in mind at no point is the

tilt

feature of a tilt-shift lens utilized in this video or article. Tilt is not a necessary feature for correcting converging vertical lines. It should also be noted that tilting the lens has a different effect as tilting the camera.

Shifting Gears

What Does 'Converging Verticals' Mean?

Converging verticals is a term typically used to describe architectural images having perspective distortion. It means that the vertical lines in the image will at some point theoretically converge. This is how a standard lens sees as well as the human eye, when viewed from above or below the subject. Architecturally this is not an accurate representation of the angles of a building.

What's Going On Here?

In the beginning of the video you can see that the camera is level, that is, the camera's sensor perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the vertical facade of the building. What we see is an obviously undesirable composition as our subject is mostly out of frame. With the tilt-shift lens neither tilted of shifted this is the image a non tilt-shift lens would give us as well.

real tilt shift photography, correcting converging verticals diagram Cameraplex

In a typical situation if you were trying to take a picture of the building you would of course angle the camera upwards. It is the angling of the camera up or down that makes the building appear to lean back or taper. Using the shift function of a tilt-shift lens enables control over vertical framing while maintaining the a parallel relationship between the camera sensor and building facade.

real tilt shift photography, Tilt Lens Diagram Cameraplex

Further Study of Tilt-Shift Lenses

Here are two of my favorite videos on tilt-shift lenses. They explore all the unique abilities of a real perspective control lens.

[embed]https://youtu.be/gTDCW_8AsSo[/embed]

[embed]https://youtu.be/3qo3nYcDCuc[/embed]

Simulated Shift for Architecture Photography

If you don't have a tilt-shift lens you can correct verticals with software. Though there are drawbacks to simulated tilt-shift for architecture, most of the time your edits can yield good results.

Here is a before & after example of software corrected verticals by friend and local New York photographer B. Koch - known as Chief770.

Buy Tilt-Shift Lenses

A tilt-shift lens is an incredible tool for experienced photographers who are looking to test their creativity. If you ever get a chance to use one or are considering buying one, I highly recommend it. Because of the cost and specialized use of a tilt-shift lens, many rent them from places like BorrowLenses.com. But here's a few tilt-shift lenses for you to get started.