If you aren’t aware, I love tilt shift photography (or selective focus)–when done well. When not done well, it pretty much looks like a blurry picture.  Though tilt shift photography hasn’t received the same amount of attention and uptake by photographers and the general public as HDR (high dynamic resolution), I find that tilt shift produces a interesting and unique perspective. I look at the work with the fascination of a little kid.

In a nutshell, tilt shift photography is a technique where special lenses are used to overcome the restrictions normal lenses have when it comes to depth of field and perspective. To achieve the tilt shift effect, the lens rotates against the image plane (tilt) and also moves along the image plane (shift). Through application of the Scheimpflug principle, the photographer can take an image with a very shallow depth of field using tilt and a larger aperture. Here is an example of a tilt shift lens.

Recently, I’ve noticed the use of tilt shift in an Allstate Insurance commercial as well as a scene in the movie A Serious Man.

Just today, a fellow photographer shared this great tilt shift video by Sam O’Hare on Twitter.

So, what’s shooting technique or style piques your interest?

lenses, techniques, titl shift