Tilt-Shift

Tilt-shift photography refers to techniques that manipulate the plane of focus and perspective using specialized lenses or post-processing. The 'tilt' function rotates the lens optics relative to the image sensor, creating a plane of focus that can be angled rather than parallel to the camera. This allows for selective focusing where objects at different distances can all be in focus, or alternatively, for creating a very narrow band of focus. The 'shift' function moves the lens parallel to the image sensor, which corrects perspective distortion—particularly useful in architectural photography to prevent converging vertical lines when shooting buildings. The most popular creative application is the 'miniature effect,' where a scene photographed from above with a very narrow band of focus appears to be a tiny model rather than a full-sized reality. Authentic tilt-shift effects are created with specialized lenses, though similar effects can be simulated in post-processing.