deviantART: by:lemondog

Panoramics & Tilt/Shift - Technique + Update

~lemondog — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:27:55 PST

Other Info
Shifting Light Projects - [link]

Updates
Hello people sorry for not updating my page very much lately, IÂve just not got around to it yet. I hope you havenÂt all grown board. I hope you find this bit below helpful and also an insight into how IÂve been doing things.

Also please view the features at the bottom of the page. I have been meaning to feature them for ages so here goes.

Panoramics and Tilt/Shift Photos Â The technique

I have for a long time now been taking my photos with tilt and shift lenses and have found them wonderful to use. If you look up details of these lenses youÂll find that they are fixed lenses. In a way I prefer this as it forces to you think about composition in a new light and forces you to move yourself into position that is going to suit the photo. This, I find, makes me try to be more creative, not limiting as some might think. With a zoom lens it is all too easy to see something you like and stand in one position and just zoom in and out. While fixed lenses force you to move around the scene to get into the best position.

These are the lenses that I use [link] - I have been using the 24mm and the 45mm.

I think that tilt and shift lenses often get overlook by landscape photographers and people wanting to take landscape shots because many people believe them to be for architecture.
I have often found that when asked what lenses I use and I say tilt and shift lenses exclusively, the response is ÂOh so you photograph buildings thenÂÂ No I donÂt

Below I have mainly talked about the shift function of the lens, which is great, but the tilt function is just as great. When the lens is tilted towards an angled object the depth of field (or focus) is set along the angle/plain in relation the angle of tilt. So Here is a detailed explanation of tilting.

This is a demonstration of the tilt function of a tilt and shift lens and why it can be so useful.

Please note the bottom 2 images where taken on the same settings @ f/2.8 ISO 1600 1/60sec 45mm

The only difference is the tilted lens. On the images to the left are what a regular lens would see at those settings and on the right is what you would see if you tilted the lens towards the object.

What happens the focus plain tilts its angle away or towards the camera as you tilt the lens. A regular lens has the plain of focus parallel with the back of the camera so the only things in focus will be the objects that intersect with that parallel line of focus.

When the camera is left in the same place but the lens is tilted the plain of focus tilts on a logarithmic scale not a linear scale. This means that if you tilt the lens by say 1 degree the plain of focus may tilt by 4 degrees, if the lens is tilted by 2 degree the plain of focus is tilted by about 10 degrees. So the ratio of movement is not a linear one.

Now, you might ask why this is important, well to most people they may never use a tilt and shift lens, so it won't matter, but its always nice to learn and* might prompt you to go out and buy one if you feel you can justify the money.

2 things that benefit from this is that you can obtain deep depth of focus using an otherwise large aperture to use in low light, maybe hand held. In the test shot above I used an aperture of f/2.8 but if i was to use a normal lens and try and get the same shot as the right hand image I would have had to use f/13 - f/16 and that is a massive difference.

Now the second thing. In landscape photography if I have detail in the foreground and I want the focus to extend to the background then I would normally have to use f/22.
This aperture on a 45mm lens give me a focus depth of 1.5 meters to infinity. If I were to give maximum tilt toward the ground I could if I wanted to include detail that is only 40cm away from the camera to infinity and still be using only f/8 - f/11. This means that I can use either faster shutter speeds or lower ISO or use hand held when other wise it would be impossible. Also I get a wider focus range so I can include more and/or get closer to the ground and/or use sharper angles of view and sti...

Shifting Light Projects - The technique.

~lemondog — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:48:48 PDT

I have had a fair few requests for information on my Shifting Light photos and so I have decided to put some info about them up here.

The subject matter for my shifting light project has been smoke a light.

Well to be honest, photographing smoke has been around for ages and has really been taken to the next level since digital took off.

What I think people try and do when they try their hand at it is to make it something new, to add a twist, be different and all that. Some people succeed at doing something new but others give up too early.

The only way really to try to do something new with smoke photography is to do the research on it to see what people have done before. I mean all you really have to do is type "smoke" in the search bar here on DA and you'll find hundreds of smoke photos of the sort of thing I have been doing.
All art is a continuation of what has gone before. The only thing you can do is to add your twist to it.

I have tried to do something new with the smoke photography but we all have to start somewhere.
Mine started with this one
I turned out loads of these photos that are similar to this one. But to be honest Ive seen loads of photos just like this done by other people, so nothing new. I'm the sort of person that likes a good challenge.

To produce a photograph like this, all you need a a source of smoke, most people (including me) use incense sticks. They make the house smell of odd stuff but they give the best form of smoke. A camera and a flash or a very powerful light source in a dark room or with a black cloth backdrop.

The light source is best coming from the side or from bottom rear or the smoke. If you use a flash on the hotshoe of the camera and point straight at the smoke all it will do is light up the background (even black cloth) and you wont get anywhere near a good smoke photo. If you can get an off camera flash cord, they are best.

The key to getting good smoke photos is contrast, that is contrast between the smoke and a black background. Beyond that its all a matter of experimentation, try different things. However if you want to get good crisp photos with sharp lines etc etc. Then there are a few things to look out for. Here's an example of crisp lines

You need to be able to freeze the movement of the smoke in some way. There are many ways of doing this. Graham Jeffery was a pioneer of this type of photography and many of the techniques people use are based on this chap. Graham Jeffery, in a commentary, states that he uses an off camera flash set to high speed sync and fast shutter speeds (1/2000 second). High speed sync flash is a setting on most higher end flash guns that enable the use of fast shutter speeds. You may have noticed that when you put a flash gun on your camera you can normally only get about 1/200 of a second (canon cameras) or 1/500 second (nikon).

This would easily be enough to freeze the smoke.

However I would like to offer a different way to look at freezing the smoke which does not require fast shutter speeds and also allows for more possibilities.
To put it simply all you need is a flash capable of a guide number of 42 or higher and a black cloth enclosure. It doesnt have to be special black cloth, I went a got some from a John Lewis shop and paid about Â£20. All you then need to do is hang it somewhere, Here's mine

All you need to do is set your flash to full power on manual point it at the smoke and take photos. The closer you have it to the smoke the brighter the smoke will be. Have you camera set to manual, ISO 100 and use a small aperture, the smallest you have, then set your shutter speed to whatever. If you are using digital then good because you can see the results straight away. If the smoke is too bright then increase your shutter speed and/or make you aperture smaller and/or move the flash further away from the smoke.

The is no right way to do anything so just mess about with it.
You do not need fast shutter speeds when using flash because the flash will freeze th...

Update + Help for a contest - Fianl Poll

~lemondog — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:25:35 PDT

This is the final poll for the autumn contest! If you wish to support me and think my work is good enough then vote for my photo here [link] mine is number 51 !

I have entered a contest for autumn and submitted my photograph "Is Autumn Here?"
The voting ends tomorrow but I'd appreciate any help from people to vote for my photo.

Vote for it by clicking here [link]
Mine is number 51

HOWEVER! Only vote for my photo if you think it's worth voting for! Don't vote for it if you think its not good enough!

Vote for it by clicking here [link]
Mine is number 51

Again only vote if you think it's good enough. If you think someone else's is better then vote for theirs!
Thank you again if you do vote for me!

________________________________________ __

Ok I will be editing each deviation at some point to include a link to be able to buy a print from me off my own website. I have ask DA if thats ok to do and it is. So it will mean if there is any print you would like to buy then you may do so through my website.
________________________________________ __

I am currently doing a few projects at the moment. I will be uploading a few more nature photographs, both macro and wider(?)... well anyway, I'll be spending for more time on my photography than I have been doing.

I will be producing a few more abstract photographs as well. So something to keep everyone happy

Thank you to all who have showed their support to me over the past few months. It's been a hard and uncertain time for me. As some of you know I lost my job due to my place of work closing down. So I have focused my efforts on the photography recently and I am enjoying it but it does not produce a stable income.

Checkout our new website [link] Most of it is working some is not. But you can purchase any of my photographs from the site. If the photo you're looking for aint on there then check back again next week. I got loads to upload.

A few features from people that have been an inspiration
to me.

Self Promotion

A big thank you & Information

~lemondog — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 04:57:49 PDT

I wish to say thank you to all those who have looked at my photographs
and commented and fav'd them.

I was so astounded to see I got a DD on Light in the Valley

So thank you to all those who looked and a special thank you to those who added me to their watch list. Thank you to all the encouragement I have recieved, this means a lot to me.

Expect to see some more photographs from my Shifting Light Project series over the next few weeks. Comments are always welcome.

A bit more about my work...

I use digital in all my photography now as it gives the best workflow and I shoot in RAW to produce the best quality 16bit tiffs. However I don't like extensive editing and non of my landscapes are done in HDR (merging of photogrpahs to produce a high dynamic range) I try to do it all in camera at the time of taking the photo. I use ND grad filters to bring the contrast from the sky and land down and I use a polarizer to deepen and saturate the colours. I always take my tripod with me where ever I go, even up mountains. Without it I wouldn't be able to use the tilt and shift lens I use nor get the long exposures that I have become used to using.

I really love technique done in camera out in the field. Im not someone who spends hours touching up photographs, however I do clone and stamp dust out of the images and I often increase the contrast and or brightness to just give me the result I want. Recently for my landscapes I have been using a tilt and shift lens exclusively because I am able to create true panaramic photographs and generally super high resolution images up to 30 mega pixels.

With tilt and shift lenses I am able to shift the lens from left to right in 3 stages to give me 3 different angles of view without moving the camera and without changing the perspective. This means that I can stitch them together perfectly without having to do any correction in photoshop and therefor giving me a complete, natural, panaramic image. The tilt function enable me to give an almost infinate depth of focusing by changing the plane of focus to a wedge shape getting larger as the distance increases from the camera. Normal lenses will have a parallel focus plane to the camera and therefor even at the smallest apature they wont give everything in focus. see Stormy Times Ahead as an example of a tilt focusing and a vertical shift stitch.

Popular Photographs

[link]

Stormy Times Ahead
Ashness Bridge Down Stream
Walking in Pools of Light
Above the Force
Light in the Valley
Light of the World
Fell View - Borrowdale
When I Look Out to the Waters
Scales Force - Lower
The Newlands Valley

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Back From The Lakes >< Light Projects

~lemondog — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:58:22 PDT

Well Im back for the lakes now and will be go through all my photos to produce a selection of, hopefully, stunning photos.

I used exclusively my 24mm tilt and shift lens this time so that it can create true panaramics and large format style photos.

The shift function enables me to take 3 photos without moving the camera and therefor not changing the perspective and yet each photo gives a different viewing angle so I can stitch them together without any correcting or adjustment of the perceived perspective.
As the lens can also rotate on the camera I can change the method of shift - right to right or up to down. The tilt function enables me to capture large depths of field also so hopefully once processed I will have a new array of photos to show you

Shifting Light Project Features

To see more info about this project please view my other Journal [link]

New twists - Update

~lemondog — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:12:18 PDT

Well I have just found out that I am to lose my job in september. Our shop is closing down

I have many options open to me and one which is very appealing at the moment is to get a part time job and spend more time on my photography.

I feel that this is gonna be a great opportunity to promote my work and that of my girl friend as we are trying to run a photography business together.

Anyway thats some distance in the future now but for more recent news, I will be in the lakeland area for the first 2 weeks of july working on a few projects and I hope to be bringing back a few stunning photos to display on your screens!

Wish me luck

Check out this rather cool photo of Jessops where I work. Took it a while ago but thought it was cool as Ive just found it on my phone

New Temtations - Shifting Light

~lemondog — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:38:12 PDT

While I have many projects in mind and gathering ideas, the current project is about light and movement, which has been inspired by my lovely partner Abi .

The way I will be recording the light is through smoke, experimenting with longer exposures and multi strobe flash to record the movement. Also to see the interesting effects that flash has at close range and the way light is recorded as the distance lenghtens, you can see this happening in the colour shifts you'll find in my photos that seem to go from a cool blue to a warmer purple, this is caused by the light fall off from both distance from the flash and the shadows created by the smoke on itself.

I have seen only a few other people experiment with this type of photography and I find it most interesting. I do find however that there is a misconception that you require ultra fast shutter speeds with flash (high speed sync) to freeze the movement of the smoke. However this is simply not true.

With highly controlled conditions working in near pitch black using extreme apartures (down to f/45) and very high powered rear lit flash with a large black box enclosure, the contrast and sharpness of the light is great to work with and see the results.

This is something which I would highly recommend to any one to try because it tests your technical ability and helps to tune it up and gets you problem solving and thinking more creatively. Seeing photography as more than just a documentation form but as an art form in its own right....

Check out my lastest photos and that of Abi Holt

I am a member of the following clubs

First Journal...

~lemondog — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:28:26 PDT

Well, just got round to doing my first journal... I just want to thank everyone who has commented and encourage me in photography.

Just a few updates.

I sold my Canon 100-400L and bought a new lens instead...

Bought a new Canon 24mmL TS-E lens (thats a tilt and shift lens). So expect a few new photos from me soon. This is mainly for my landscape work and I will be focusing on a new project within the cities with this lens, however I will be having to wait for some filters from the USA before that gets started.

If anyone has any ideas about the use I might be able to put my new lens to use on then please do let me know. Just for people that don't know, TS-E lenses are used for altering both perspective and the plane of focus so that you can either get complete DOF (depth of field) even at wide apartures or you can blow out the focusing and have a tiny tiny DOF in only one area of the photo. Can be very effective and creative. I want to experiement with it a lot so, have any ideas? let me know.

For those that are interested in the image quality of this lens and what it is capable of. I've made 2 test photos which can be downloaded @ [link]
its 64megs big in a zip file, don't feel you have to...

Thats it for now... more to come soon!