Getting
Started With Image Control and Camera Movements:
Creative Challenges and Simple Solutions |  | Controlling
Perspective and Parallel Lines
Challenge: You want to photograph a building, or a stand
of trees, yet keep all lines parallel even though you must angle the camera
upwards to encompass the scene.
Solution: Rise. First, align the camera back parallel to the subject.
Then, by using the rise movement, the lens' point of view is moved above
eye level, thereby keeping vertical lines parallel. Rise, fall and shift
are all parallel movements that move the lens up, down and sideways relative
to the center of the camera back. |
| Increased
Control of Perspective and Parallel Lines
Challenge: You need more control of perspective than you can achieve
with front rise, fall and shift. |
 | Solution:
Drop Bed - Front and rear are tilted backward at the same degree and thereby
kept parallel, giving the effect of increased Front Fall. |
 | Incline
Bed - Front and rear are tilted forward at the same degree and kept parallel,
giving the effect of increased Front Rise. |
 | Shift
Bed - Front and rear are swung in the same direction to the same degree,
giving the same effect as Shift, but with dramatically increased control. |
| Increasing Depth of Field
Challenge: You see a vast landscape with a field of flowers and distant
mountains. You want to have both the flowers near the camera and the distant
mountain in focus at the same time. Even if you used the smallest aperture
on your lens, you might still need greater depth-of-field. |
 | Solution:
Front Tilt. Tilting the lens forward will extend the plane of focus far
beyond the effect of using a small lens aperture and allow you to get near
and far objects in focus at the same time. Front tilt is usually combined
with using a small aperture such as f/16 or f/22. It does not replace using
a small aperture, but rather enhances the effect over a greater subject
plane. |
| Challenge: Imagine focusing on
a white picket fence, running from near to far, diagonally through your
composition. With ordinary cameras you can either focus on the beginning,
middle, or end of the fence, use a small aperture, and hope to get most
of it in focus. |
 | Solution: Front Swing. With
a field camera, you can swing your lens to position it roughly parallel
to the fence. This will allow you to get the fence in sharp focus from beginning
to end, even with a wide open aperture. |
| Selective
Focus
Challenge: You want to focus on just one leaf or flower and leave
everything else in the scene a soft blur. Or, you want to recreate an effect
you may have seen in a fashion magazine where only the model's eyes are
sharp, and all the clothes are softly blurred. |
 | Solution:
Front Tilt-Backward can be used to accomplish these selective focus effects
with ease. Front swing can be used for a similar effect with objects to
the left or right of your composition center. Swinging in either direction
will bring objects in or out of focus. |
| Correct
or Distort the Shape or Size of An Object
Challenge: You want to emphasize a large rock, or other visual
element in the foreground of a landscape. |
 | Solution:
Rear Tilt. By tilting the back away from the lens, you will notice that
the size and shape of objects in the foreground become exaggerated. Similarly, |
 | Rear Swing will pivot the back from side to side, manipulating
the shape of objects to the right or left of the composition. |
