DIY Tilt-Shift

Okay, first off... this post is not about how to make yourself your own Tilt-Shift. For lack of better words, this a commentary on how to make a tilt-shit lens. Seriously... It amazes me how many people out there, with a wealth of photographic knowledge can't get this simple concept right. Many confuse Selective Focus for Perspective Control - which, really annoys me.

This... is NOT a tilt-shift lens. (i'll explain below why)
Apologies to where ever these images are originally from. Actually, in this case, I don't apologize... a plunger? seriously?

This people... are Tilt-Shift Lenses. (Canon's 24L and 17L)

Apologies to where ever these images are originally from.
As you can plainly see, they have dials on them. Those are for adjusting the tilt and shift of the lens.

Tilting is when you alter the lens plane, by swinging the lens' axis away from being center and perpendicular to the film plane. Think of it as an Elephant's trunk. If the Elephant was to hold out it's snout perfectly straight - that would be a normal lens. If the elephant bends his snout upwards or downwards, it would be tilting it. Unfortunately, because of limitations imposed by the mechanicals, tilting is only in the up/down axis. (These lenses do allow you to rotate however) With Tilt-Shift lenses, you are given the ability to adjust the tilt by ±6.5°, as much or as little as you want, as well as as fine as you want. Each little tick mark is probably a quarter of a degree. Though, I must add, I'm unsure if this applies to all the TS-e's or just the 17mm.

Shifting is when you move the lens plane laterally to the film plane. Think of it as a sliding door on a Mini-van. When closed, the door is in it's normal alignment. But, if you open the door and slide it open, you are now shifting the door's placement on the Minivan. Since you have the door open on this proverbial minivan, you might as well look through the glass now... Hmmm... strange. Where was I? Oh yeah... Shifting. On Canon lenses, you can get up to ±12mm of shift. Once again, this figure may only apply to the 17mm TS-e.

Now, when you combine the tilting with the shifting, you are given an amazing amount of control over your shot. In Real Estate and Architectural Photography, this control is translated into making buildings look true to life. In other realms, they are used for miniaturization - which, IMHO, Keith Loutit is the king. If you haven't seen any of his videos yet, go watch them after reading my post. Links at the bottom

So, that's Tilt/Shift.

What's the deal with the plunger? The deal is, there are people out there that think taking a lens, gluing it to a plunger, then mounting the plunger to your camera is going to give you the ability to tilt-shift. They are wrong. At best, you get tilting. In reality, you get a really stupid looking lens modification. Worse still, You lose Infinity-focus, which is rather important for doing Tilt/Shift as you're dealing with Scheimpflug there.

In effect, the plunger-mod will get you results somewhat close to what this guy gets you:

What's that? It's a LENSBABY! (yaaaay!!).

What's a Lensbaby? I dunno, but it's EXTREMELY AWESOME. Lensbaby is made of Creativity, which make your photos grow, which is why you should buy one, because plungers are for Toilets and have you ever seen a picture come out of a toilet? It's got BENDING, super extra bending! and 5 KINDS OF BOKEH*! Which makes your pictures photolicious, unlike other cheap lenses, which are NOT photolicious. Taking pictures with it will make you wonder why you've never had photos that LOOK LIKE EXPLOSIONS!

Woah... I better lay off the Brawndo.

So, as i was trying to say. Lensbabies are an inventive (and properly manufactured) way of doing "Selective Focus". What's selective focus and how does it differ from how lenses normally focus. Selective Focus is when you choose a subject and have the photo so that they are the only thing in focus. How does it differ? Aside from the bending factor, not a whole lot. After all, Focusing is about being selective to begin with, right? So, yeah... I don't have an answer for that second question.

Now... Udi over at diyphotography has come up with an ingenious method of faking the tilt-shift effect. Once again, not really tilt-shift, but closer than the Plunger thing.
Link: http://www.diyphotography.net/create-awesome-tilt-shift-macro-shots-with-old-car-headlights

Now, my suggestion is, if you do his project, use a CPL filter instead of an old filter/stepping ring. Additionally, Udi suggested in his comment section that the lens be mounted off-center. Doing that, and attaching it to a CPL, will allow you to rotate it in whichever direction you want.

Now, combine that with the Plunger idea and you'll probably end up with the craziest DIY lens ever. I can't imagine what the effect will be with the two combined, but I do know that your ability to focus to infinity will be tossed out the window.

-- EDIT--

I have found a DIY T/S that yields closer results than other ideas. Still a plunger, but this one I'm not going to laugh at as much, because Captain Nod put more thought into it. Go Here to check it out. My belief on this one is that he took a few factors into consideration here (like the lack of shifting) and at the bottom, he says he's going to work on a method of controlling the shift as well. The Cavaet here is - his idea is better but it lacks the sharpness of a true T/S but it's still pretty sharp.

Once again, a glorified Lensbaby. ;)

Links!
Lifehacker/Make Magazine Plunger "T/S"
DIYPhotography's Projector Lamp Lens
Foundphotography's Retarded T/S Project
Nikon's PC-E Nikkor 24mm F3.5
Canon's Tilt-Shift Line-up
Lensbaby - Canadian site or If you're American (the website will redirect you depending on which country you're in)
Captain Nod's PlungerCam and in action.

Keith Loutit vids: Bathtub IV, Helpless, Bathtub III, Bathtub II and Beached


* I'm unsure of the Muse and others, but the Lensbaby 2.0 came with several drop in apertures. 2.2, 2.4, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0 and 2 blanks. The creative kit gives you a heart and star, and several more blanks.

Flashing and Streaking...

Having started this blog just a few days ago, explaining how I would like to focus my efforts on key subjects, I thought of the regularity of which said subjects could be discussed. Since, Wednesday was a car-blogging, then maybe another day can be a photography blogging? Friday, being the beginning of the weekend, I could discuss music. However, one could argue that it would be wiser to discuss music at the end of the weekend, after I have either a) downloaded and/or purchased new music or b) heard something new. Either way, I haven't got a concrete schedule that I can adhere to yet, and this early in the game, I probably shouldn't.

Today, is my first photo-blog entry, and I'm not sure what to talk about this (first) time. I suppose I can talk about some of the small little tricks I have learned in my short time as a serious, yet still amatuer photographer.

First, this is not just advice for photography, but for life. Start cheap. This isn't because you can get by with cheap, but rather because it's better to learn with cheap, growing into better equipment. I doubt some of the greatest photographers like Leibowitz or Adams started with the cameras that they took their most famous pictures with. The point i'm trying to make here is, it's with the less expensive equipment that you can get started and going. From the less expensive, you can learn the basics and some of the advanced too (if you're brave enough to explore some of the crazy features in your camera - I for one, am still looking for an opportunity to use MLU)

Second - Auto... learn to use it, learn to love it. It's in this mode that you can capture amazing shots without thinking. Why miss out on a killer shot by mucking about with your fancy Manual settings, when you don't have to? I started shooting Auto and Night-time before I ultimately moved to Tx (shutter priority). From Shutter Priority, I moved briefly to Aperture Priority (Ax), only to go back, before i went to Full Manual. It was in September of 2008, that I first went manual, successfully. To this day, I am still proud of that shot

Third -If anything I have learned [okay, observed] it's that if you find yourself in a photographic slump, there's 3 things you can do about it.

1) Do a little research on the net for tips and tricks.
I like to visit these three sites:
a) Strobist
b) DIYphotography
c) Instructables [note: i don't have a direct link for their photo stuff... couldn't find it]

Without a doubt, the modern digital photographer should be going to the first. The frugal and/or photographing newcomer, should be going to the the second and third as well. The latter two are actually good suggestions for getting close to professional results via methods that... well, professionals would balk at. Can't knock a cool photo now, can you? Anyhow... having said that, some of the projects on those two sites circumvent some crappy aspects of amatuer photography as well... like that of flashing with more power.

2) Join a photo club/blog/site.
If you're on Facebook, like so many of us are, there are hundreds of photoclubs. I alone, am in 3 different clubs, but I will admit, I don't really go to two of them often. I have found that these photoclubs can be a boon to a photographer looking for a challenge and for ideas. The reason being is, you can get a glimpse into what others are taking photos of. I do have to say though, I have a bit of a problem with some groups as they will allow users of point and shoot cameras in their contests, which i think is kind of cheating. More to the point, P&S users don't understand EXIF or the difficulty in making settings work. I'll admit, there are some fancy P&S cameras out there that do have full manual modes in them, but none have the control of a decent SLR. At least, in my experience. (Though the S5 and G9 are rather good).

Having said that... photoblogs and clubs are great for lists of ideas. Here's a sample list of what you can take pictures of:

Machinery * Religious Celebrations * Earth/Wind/Fire/Water * Around the House * Graffiti * Diagonals * Technology * Time * Glass/Crystal * Spring * Trees * Games * Feathers * Gardens * Many * Family Fun * At the Beach * Waterfalls * Architecture * Mountains * Boats/Ships * What's for Dinner? * Symmetry* Ruins * Toys * Pools/Fountains * Weddings * Music * One * Roads/Paths * Fluid * From the Underside * Secret Places * Fences/Walls/Gates * People at Work * Waves * Eggs * Spires/Steeples * Faces * Vases * Square * Attics/Cellars * Landmarks Ice * Centrepieces * Beverages * Grasses * Wood * Demolition * Collections * Books * Running * Fruit/Berries

3) The last suggestion is more of an idea that I'd rather not suggest, but it should be considered.

PUT THE CAMERA DOWN - at least for a while. I have found that the best way to get around a slump is to not be bothered by said slump. Putting the camera away for a while will force an abandonment of some bad techniques (theoretically) and will give you fresh eyes when you return to it. Sometimes, it helps to put it away so you can give thought to a technique you'd like to try. Thinking is good. Compose the shot as best as you can in your mind - think of how you need to set everything up and how to get there with your (available) equipment.

Having said all this... I'm currently trying to think through aperture designs for my Lensbaby.
My current project is attempting to create a zone plate for my lensbaby. Understandably, the creative aperture that I will eventually create will not be a true zone plate, but it will be the closest damn thing i can get to one. Naturally, a pinhole will be the easiest to accomplish (drill a hole in the aperture disk and bam! pinhole.