tilt and swing questions

[davidp]

yo,

Im just a bit confused with these movements to create blur, For example if I wanted to create the blur on the left side of the image and had the right side sharp, would I swing the left side of the lens/board out (while the rightside swings inward) or is it the opposite because of the whole image being flipped around on the GG? Also, are these results clear on the groundglass?, can you easily see how much blur is done, and can you control this easily to get precise amounts of blur? for example when you tilt more the blur gets stronger and when you do less the blur becomes visually less?


Does the same apply for vertical tilts? I read somewhere that tilting the bottom upwards and outwards towards the subject (thus letting the top lean backwards towards the photographer behind the camera) blurs the bottom of the image, but no body ever said it does it to the top if you tilt the top down to create blur (not to get everything sharp)?

an example of this is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanallan/75722574/sizes/o/

Would he of tilted the bottom or just had the aperture wide open?

Also, what about images with blur on both the left and right from tilts? Is this done by tilting say the lens to the left and the film back to the right? leaving the middle in focus or am I completely wrong?

I know these may be annoying to answer but I really would love to know and cant find any answers anywhere?

Thanks, Dave.
Forgive me for any silly typos or anything that doesnt make sense:(

[Alan Davenport]

What you see on the groundglass is exactly what you'll get on the film.

[Nathan Potter]

Alan has explained it in a nutshell. But to be a bit more specific.

The blur occurs from an out of focus condition. You are beyond the depth of field of the subject matter when the image is blurred.. The degree of out of focus condition is symmetrical on both the near and far side of the focus point. So you can tilt or swing either standard to achieve a desired out of focus effect and you can place the out of focus region wherever you desire. At wide aperture the plane of sharp focus will be very narrow while at small apertures the plane of sharp focus will be much wider. You further need to realize that when you tilt or swing the lens standard you move the image formed on the film plane so you must consider the coverage of the lens.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Gordon Moat]

The image you linked to on Flickr uses tilt more than it uses swing. One hint to make this easier is to set-up the front standard slightly behind your infinity stop for the lens you are using. On the picture you linked the feet and foreground are defocused more than the man's torso. Depending upon whether your view camera had front or rear movements, you could tilt either standard to get a defocus on the top or bottom half of the image.

Just for an example, this image used front standard tilt (http://www.gordonmoat.com/life_04.html) to achieve the defocus. If you look closely, part of the background is in sharp focus. This is because the plain of focus has moved and is angled relative to the subject.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)