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You are here: Home / Photography Techniques / Getting The Shot: City Bus Tilt/Shift

Getting The Shot: City Bus Tilt/Shift

Updated on March 17, 2020 by Rob Lim

Have you ever seen a photo that seemed a bit unreal. It might look like it was taken from an impossible perspective. Or it might have a depth of field or selective focus that doesn’t seem natural.

This is likely the work of tilt-shift photography. Tilt-shift photography involves the use of special lenses (or special cameras) that allow the photographer to manipulate the plane of focus.

Let’s take a look at a tilt-shift photo below:

Upload from August 26, 2011

Camera Settings:

Camera: Canon 5d MK II
Lens: TS-E 45mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/400sec
ISO: 500

Image Details:

This image is of a city bus in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was taken during golden hour, an hour or so before sunset, giving that nice, warm light.

How It Was Shot:

This particular photo is an example of tilting the lens.

Notice how the top part of the image is quite out of focus. The pavement and lower part of the bus are also out of focus. Now notice how the sharp part of the image is basically a strip that follows the lower half of the windows on the bus. You can see how the sharp part of the image stretches backwards into the scene, so the people behind, waiting at the bus stop, are also sharp.

One of the cool things about tilt-shift is its ability to blur out things that would normally be in focus (like the tree), allowing you to get really interesting and dramatic background blur.

Tips:

You can check out this post for an introduction to tilt-shift photography, and check out this post to learn more about how to use a tilt-shift lens.

How It Was Processed:

Upload from August 26, 2011

Upload from August 26, 2011

The photo was shot in RAW and processed in Adobe Lightroom.

Fill Light was increased quite a bit in order to balance out the bright sky. Brightness was also increased.

The image was also a bit washed out (no pure blacks) so the Blacks slider was increased. This naturally increased contrast, but the Contrast slider was also increased to give it even more.

Clarity was increased to make this photo pop a bit more. Since tilt-shift photography often produces a super narrow band of focus Clarity and Sharpening can help your subject pop out a bit more.

Vibrance was increased to enhances the colours of the bus (while not over saturating the yellows and oranges)

Finally the Temperature slider was adjusted to warm up the image.

Time Spent Processing: 5 minutes

Filed Under: Photography Techniques

About Rob Lim

Hi there, I’m Rob! I’m a photography ninja here at Photography Concentrate. I love all things photography: shooting, teaching and always learning more! If I’m not reading up on the latest photography news, or studying a technique, I’m probably reading a book or planning our next adventure!

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We're The Photography Concentrate Team: Daniel, Kaitlyn and Kristal. Think of us as your photo friends – we’re here to help you take great photos, and have a ton of fun together while we’re at it!

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