How to Use a Shift Camera Lens

A shift camera lens was used to make this picture, in order to keep the two rings in focus and everything else in blur.

Shift camera lenses allow photographers to optically manipulate photographs by moving the center point of the lens so that is records visual information away from the center of the camera sensor. As a result, what would have been recorded in the center of the frame would be off-centered. The result is an image with a sharpened subject in hand off-balanced part of the frame. Shift camera lenses are also referred to as perspective-control lenses Because they can change the angle of view for a camera, without even moving the camera itself. Shift lenses are commonly used in jewelry photography, fine art photography and urban landscape photography.

Instructions

1. Mount the shift lens onto the camera body by lining up the red dot on the lens with the red dot on the mounting ring. Turn the lens until you hear a clicking noise, indicating that the lens is securely attached to the camera body.

2. Find a vantage point and look through the camera's viewfinder. Create a composition where the focal point is off-center.

3. Adjust the perspective control at the end of the lens so that the focal point is clearly focused in the frame. The rest of the composition should gradually become unfocused in portions away from the focal point.

4. Press the shutter release to take the picture. Review the picture on the LCD screen to make sure that the focal point is sharp.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with a shift camera lens to get the most out of it. There are no real rules that govern how you should use it.

References

• Photo.Net: How Shift Lenses Change Your Life
• Cambridge in Color: Using Tilt--Shift Lenses Control Perspective