foto-arte - Tilt & Swing

Tilt & Swing

Unlike Rise and fall, tilt and swing movements on the lens axis and the film plane central axis changes the angular relationship between the film plane, lens plane and the subject.

Swinging or tilting the back causes noticeable change in the shape of the object on the ground glass and also slight change in the focus.

Front Tilt is used to increase the depth of field until it is more closely aligned with the subject plane. Tilting the front lensboard towards the subject plane will render more of the horizontal plane in focus.

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

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

Swing

Swing is the same as Tilt but in a different plane. This movement twists the ground glass and lensboard around a vertical axis. Like tilt its effect are dependent on whether the lensboard or the ground glass is moved.

Front Swing does not change the shape of the object. Like tilt, this movement is used to increase the depth of field until it is more closely aligned with the subject plane. Tilting the front lensboard towards the subject plane will render more of the vertical plane in focus.

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.
toyo.05

SOLUTION

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.

REAR TILT

Rear tilt is used to exagerate or emphasize an obeject in the foreground by increasing its size.

CHALLENGE You want to emphasize a large rock, or other visual element in the foreground of a landscape.

toyo.06

SOLUTION

By tilting the back away from the lens, you will notice that the size and shape of objects in the foreground become exaggerated. Similarly, pivoting the back around its vertical axis manipulates the shape of objects to the right or left of the composition.