Tilt shift lenses aren’t just for quirky landscapes and making things appear to be miniature, they can also be useful in portrait photography. Take a look at the following video to learn a few useful tips for utilizing a specialized piece of glass that you may not have considered for portraits:
Using the Nikon 85mm f/2.8D PC-E Lens on a Nikon D4, the photographer in the video had full control over the slices of image that were in focus, giving him complete creative control over his portraits.
An extreme example of the exact focal slices you can make with a tilt shift lens.
Having complete control over the areas that are in focus is especially useful for environmental portraits in which certain background elements need to be out of focus to prevent distraction from the subject. In this case, the photographer was trying to blur out the busy store in the background so the eye is drawn instantly to the man in the image.
If you don’t want to spend quite that much money on what could be considered a specialty lens, there are more affordable options on the market such as the LensBaby Composer which currently retails at a fraction of the price as the Nikon lens.
Like This Article?
Don't Miss The Next One!
Join over 100,000 photographers of all experience levels who receive our free photography tips and articles to stay current:
Great video. I’ve always been interested in these lenses but didn’t know exactly what they did or how they worked. Thanks for showing me!