Tuesday 29 April 2014

Portraiture using Tilt Shift lens effect

Whenever I think or hear of tilt shift lens, I always picture those quirky cityscapes with miniature people looking like something out of a Lego movie.  

Image from: bloggs74.com

Recently I read an article where the tilt shift lens effect can be used with portraits.  I thought "That's a little extreme in depth of filed blur" however I was extremely surprised when I saw the results. The following image is a beautiful example of just how this effect can be used well.


Article by Trevor Dayley from: fstoppers

Then I thought well...it might work well with a portrait incorporated in a landscape but would it work in the studio environment? 

Image by: Brittany Mclaren.blogspot.com.au

Well it certainly does.  These images taken by Brittany Mclaren show just how the tilt shift lens can be used in many situations even studio portraits. More examples can be seen on her blog. I think the key is to not over use the effect resulting in 90% of the image being blurry.  It's important to ensure that the main area of your subject, such as the eyes and most of the face is sharp.  It is easy to loose the viewers attention if they don't know what to focus on. The following image shows extreme tilt shift effect.  The artist took this image specifically showing an extreme effect. 

Image from: The Keh Camera Blog

Ok...so it is a nice effect with portraits but what if you don't have a tilt shift lens?  Not all is lost. A few years ago there were many step needed to create a tilt shift lens effect however, Photoshop CS 6 now has tilt shift lens effect in the Blur filter section. It is a fantastic tool and not too complicated to use.  The following article gives a step by step lesson on how it is done. 


Is it really east to use?  Well I tired it out on a portrait I took some time ago and it was much easier than I thought.  I am really enjoying this effect and will be using more often. Have a go...it's well worth the effort

 Photo by :Billie-Maree Ward
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