*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com
What are benefits of shooting with a tilt-shift lens? Does your production absolutely require it or can its effect be replaced in the post? In today’s episode with our favorite photographer David Bergman we discuss use-case scenarios, as well as pros and cons of tilt-shift lenses!
Mr. Bergman shares: “There are obviously two main ways to move the lens tilt and shift.. duh! And each is used for different reasons. If you look up at a tall building and shoot it with a normal wide-angle lens, you’re gonna see converging lines, just like if you were looking at train tracks going off into the distance. That’s called keystoning, and architectural photographers usually want those lines to be straight. So they’ll shift the lens to magically make those lines run parallel to each other.”
“Another thing you can do is try this cool trick – if you want to photograph a mirror and you’re seeing yourself in the reflection, you can move a few feet to the left or right and then shift the lens to get the same perspective without seeing the camera. It’s pretty cool.”
“One more use for the shift function is to shoot multiple overlapping photos and then stitch them together to give you a high-resolution image, with absolutely no distortion. “
“Now the tilt part of a tilt shift lens can be used to make everything look like it’s a miniature. You can give yourself more or less depth of field by rotating the lens in different directions. It takes some practice but you can get some cool results.”
“Now can you do all this in post-processing. Converging lines can be corrected in post for sure, but when you do it, it’ll crop the image and you’re gonna lose some of your field of view, and since you’re cutting out pixels, you’re also losing some resolution. The miniature tilt function can be replicated in a computer, or even on your phone these days, but it’s kind of fun to get it right in camera.”
“If you rarely need one of these effects or corrections, then save your money, and just do it in post! But if you’re a serious photographer who will regularly need the looks that a tilt shift lens will give you, or if you want to do a multi-shot panorama without any distortion, then just bite the bullet and pick one up. You absolutely won’t regret it.”
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Watch the full episode with David Bergman and Adorama TV: