out of focus

Hello Everybody

My name is Sébastien.
I live in south of France.
I really really love my large format photography.
I use it a lot. But sometime I gave small troubles.
And I am unable to find a solution.

I dit this picture yesterday about a dead tree.
https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?c...zeQjUEczjO8Q0X

I really like it. But the upper part is out of focus.
https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?c...xfMYgs8QUOW9nX

So Intrepid 4x5 with Nikon NIKKOR W 180mm f/5.6.
I did a small front tilt.
It was with FP4 film at F/22 and a good speed : 1/8
I thought I was ok.

Can one of you say me why I have this difference between a sharp bottom and a blurry top ??

Thank you a lot !!!!
Have a good weekend and use your large format photography
Sébastien

You may have used too much tilt. Need to make sure the trunk in the foreground is in focus on the groundglass. If you tilt to bring the background into the focus the foreground in front of the background will go out of focus. If you want it all in focus you need to stop down all the way such as to f/64 like the old school.

Yes, you may have used too much tilt -- or not enough. I would think that f22 would be good enough. The best approach is not to use your eyeballs, but to use a magnifier -- called a loupe. These are available in several strengths -- for 2X to 10X. I use a 7X. That way you can better check to see if everything is in focus. As mentioned, when you tilt (or swing) the lens both edges of the correctly focused image will go out of focus. To correct this, you need to adjust the overall focus, and the overall amount of tilt, and a loupe makes this easier -- but not faster. And different cameras are slightly different in this regard as well.

The replies above suggest you may have used too much front tilt, by which I think we are assuming you tilted the lens forward, or toward the tree. Since you were using a 180mm lens on a 4x5 format camera, I suppose you were not too close to the tree, but then again the foreground of your image looks like you may have been fairly close to your main subject of interest (the larger dead tree stems). I also note that your "out of focus" concern in the film is with the tops of two limbs that look to me like they could have been extending somewhat toward your camera and lens (rather than away).

Given these considerations, I wonder if any front lens tilt toward the subject was necessary, and if you were fairly (or quite?) close to the subject my instincts would have been to consider the possibility of a tiny bit of backwards tilt of the front lens (but more likely that I would use no tilt). Finally, in this situation my instincts would have suggested no front lens tilt, and to rely on stopping the lens way down to increase depth of field or focus (i.e., reduce aperture to f32+ or f45, if not even make one exposure at f64 as waterlenz suggested).

Well.. more questions than never.
I'm gonna try to answer to all of you here.

waterlenz : I used a small front tilt. Very small. And sorry waterlenz I don't understand what you tried to explain me. I don't have in French the trunk of the foreground.

Xkaes : I choose my spot, choose the composition and after I used a magnifier. Every time. My point of focus is the left tree, between the two different areas of wood. I have it. This is why I was surprised by the upper side. But my problem is when you write that " check to see if everything is in focus " I never have everything in focus at f/5,6... More questions...

JMO : OK if you said to be close of the subject doesn't need a front tilt, maybe it is where I am wrong. I was close. A duo way to go backward. I did another picture with a 105mm and I have all the tree. But unfortunately with a small front tilt too..
A lot of people say me everytime F/22 is enough. I will give a try with more.

Anyway, thank you a lot of your advices. I never thought it could be the front tilt and the distance.
I am gonna do a second try about this dead tree :-)

Sébastien,

I'll try to keep it simple.

Front tilt moves the plane of focus from vertical toward horizontal. It is good for things like flat fields with no trees, etc.
A tiny bit of front tilt in the situation you had could easily move the top part of the focus too far back.

Next time, choose high and low points you want to be in focus after you apply the tilt. Make sure they are both in focus after you tilt and before you stop down. I would have chosen a point in the near foreground and then a branch toward the top of the tree.

Hope this helps,

Doremus

This video presents the best tutorial on properly focusing the view camera that I have come across: https://video.search.yahoo.com/searc...f&action=click

Take a look at image #27 in the salt print gallery (The Dunsmuir House) on my website. If you just focus on the house (the main subject) then the background trees will be out of focus. Conversely, if you focus on the trees, then the house will be out of focus. This image was taken with an 8x10 base-tilt camera so what I did was tilt for the top of the furthest tree and then focus for the house (maybe the immediate grass foreground, I don't recall), then re-tilt for the tree and refocus for the near. Repeat that until both are in focus simultaneously and stop down for the middle. So tilt for the far, focus for the near, re-tilt for the far, refocus for the near and stop down for the middle. I believe that is how it goes for base tilt cameras and opposite for axial tilt cameras.

Thomas

One point that is often not considered is the position of the camera before any tilting is applied. In many cases, instead of placing the camera in a perfectly flat/level position on the tripod, if the intended plane of focus tilts forward (or backward) simply tilting the entire camera (not just the lens) in the same direction is enough to get everything in focus -- or it can, at least, minimize the amount of tilting needed. That won't work for all subjects and perspectives because it can cause some unwanted distortion, but with many subjects, such as landscapes or gnarly trees, it works quite well.

Doremus : Yes yes you are true !! I remember to read something like this for front tilt. No vertical elements in the composition

Thomas : I saw this video. Plenty of times. But if I don't have the good effect.. I mean I don't have all the knowledges. I didn't know it could be a problem to be close.

xkaes : I did something like this a couple of weeks. With an old industrial tower. I have lights leak (maybe another name) everywhere in the sky. And the sun was behind me. I thinks I can do another post for this to know where does it come from..

Thanks again

I looked at your images and come to the conclusion that you are too close with that lens. Take a look at image # 41 ("Sunday Afternoon...") at https://spiritsofsilver.com/gallerie..._white_gallery This was shot with a 45mm lens (22.5mm 35mm equivalent) on a Pentax 67II camera. My idea was getting everything sharp throughout and the radiating branches of the oak tree were practically touching the camera. I may have used the hyperfocal distance (easy with Pentax lens), I don't recall, but I stopped down heavily and used a slow shutter speed. The print came out great. This image https://spiritsofsilver.com/galleries/_page_2-1 #45 ("Dead Cypress") was taken with the same lens. I got as close to the tree as possible keeping the subject within the frame and, IIRC, just stopped the lens down. The lens choice is important.