When it comes to food photography or food photography, the
photographer’s arsenal has several ideal lenses. One of them is a tilt-shift
lens. It allows you to creatively work with the depth of field and perspective
of your photos. Tilt-shift lenses are often used in architectural photography -
they solve problems with controlling perspectives and help visually align the
“falling buildings” in the photo.
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Read our article in which photographer Darina Kopcok helps
to learn more about how these lenses are useful for food photography and food
photography.
What is a tilt shift lens?
Commercial food photographers or still-life photographers
constantly use tilt-shift lenses in their work. Such a lens cannot be called a
"budget option", but it is still worth investing in it if you plan to
specialize in food photography and will often use it.
Tilt-shift is a lens that allows you to tilt or rotate
(English tilt) and shift (English shift) the image plane at an angle / along
the photosensitive layer. Thus, it gives a wider range of images than
traditional. As a rule, it is referred to as wide-angle lenses .
The traditional lens does not "see" identically
with the way the human eye, even though its angle is pretty close to what a
person sees. A tilt-shift lens opens up many other possibilities. Thanks to it,
by tilting or moving the lens relative to the plane of the matrix or film, you
can shift the frame within the boundaries of a high-quality image that exceeds
the frame area. That is, the tilt shift helps to rebuild the frame so that it
is more familiar to human perception (and, as you know, we do not perceive the
world visually exactly the way it is geometrically constructed).
In a conventional lens, the focus plane is parallel to the
camera sensor. This affects what gets into focus. Everything that is at the
same distance as the subject in the frame will look sharp.
The focal plane and depth of field will depend on the
selected aperture. That's why when you shoot with a wide aperture (a small f /
stop number), you have a very shallow depth of field.
Wherever you place focus, it will be that line of the image
where everything will turn out in focus. The tilt-shift lens allows you to
control the convergence of parallel lines and the focus plane. You can shoot
two objects instead of one at two different distances.
How does a tilt shift lens work?
The tilt-shift lens allows you to do two things:
the tilt function allows you to change the focus plane so
that it is not parallel to the sensor (it controls sharpness);
the shift function adjusts the position of the object in the
image without the need to move the camera (it controls the perspective).
With these two functions, you can use the lens to shoot an
object at the most flattering angle - complete control over how much you
include in the frame without changing the camera angle or distance.
The ability to control the focus plane allows you to clearly
focus on a specific area of the visible field (for example, in the
foreground). The rest of the objects (in the background) remain out of focus,
quite blurry enough.
Tilt shift lenses also give more control over the depth of
field of the image . In a traditional lens, everything that is at the same
distance as the object will be in focus, since these elements are in the same
focal plane. When the lens is tilted, the focal plane also tilts and becomes a
diagonal line. This creates a significantly greater depth of field.
Thus, you can create an image in which two objects located
parallel to each other are not in focus. You also have the ability to move the
lens up or down, or from side to side. This, in turn, means that you can
capture elements in the frame that would not fall into it if you used a
conventional lens, in fact, you can get angles that otherwise would simply be
impossible.
It is important to know that the tilt shift can only be focused
manually, no autofocus. The tilt-shift function works only when the focal plane
is parallel to the sensor plane. The bonus is that it makes the lens universal
- it can be used as usual.
How to use a tilt shift lens for food photography
When you first encounter this kind of lenses, they may seem
strange and incomprehensible. These lenses look different than traditional
ones. On each side of the lens there are two adjustable handles that allow you
to shift the lens left and right. When the lens shifts to the left, the focal
line shifts to the right. Everything on the left will be out of focus, because
the right side is closest to the sensor plane. If you shift to the right, the
focus area will be to the left of the frame.
Shooting food photos with a tilt shift lens
As described above, with a tilt-shift lens, you can
selectively control the focus plane. You can make the object in the front of
the image sharp and in focus, while the elements in the background will not be
in focus.
In the context of subject photography, it can be difficult
to get the most flattering view of a cooked dish or product when shooting,
including objects around it. And just with the help of a tilt-shift lens there
is an opportunity to take food photos from the most successful angles. And at
the same time, in addition, control how many props or other supporting elements
around appear in the frame. This is especially useful in grocery photography,
when shooting food packages or preparing an image where you will need to then
put on top of the text (for example, on the cover of a magazine).
Conclusion
You might think that it would be possible to recreate the
tilt-shift effect of the lens in post-processing. You will find that many
pictures taken with it cannot be repeated using a conventional lens or editing
software. You cannot recreate the same angle settings in Photoshop. Or they
will simply turn out to be noticeably worse.
If a tilt shift lens is too expensive to purchase in the
near future, try to rent it and just try to rent with it. You can cling to the
world of opportunities that it will open for you, and after that decide that it
is really worth the upcoming costs.
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