What is the most movement youve ever used?

[Darin Cozine]

Weve all seen the advertisements of large format cameras looking like a pretzel. The reality is that it does not take much movement for most shots. But I would like to hear about the times when you used the most amount of movement you can remember.

Please describe the situation and the results as best possible.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I've moved my camera all over the place- up mountains, through deserts, into swamps... As far as movements on the camera, I usually just use a little front tilt and sometimes some rise or shift.

[David A. Goldfarb]

The most movement I tend to use is with a tall structure in a cramped place (a not so unusual problem in New York), where I might be using maximum front rise along with some indirect front rise by tilting the camera up and tilting the front and rear standards forward in parallel. Of course architectural photographers who are more serious than I am might rent scaffolding, arrange access in an adjacent building, or even hire a helicopter in such a situation.

[Steve Hamley]

Darin,

I do mostly fieldwork, and not a lot of movement is usually necessary - except when doing really close work with the camera pointing down or at some odd angle to a close up subject. I've run out of back movement on my field camera and had to use front movement too under these conditions. But this is rare.

Thanks!

Steve

[darter]

I use a little rear tilt occasionally, though it makes me a little dizzy. I probably should check with the Perpendiucularity Consultant about this.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

With the 8x10, at most 1 inch rise and less than 5º front tilt, rarely do I use the back tilt but is nice to have.

With the 12x20 I tend to use more rise and tilt since the DOF is shallower. Other than that, rarely have used swings, and for those time I neede to use swings I did not have enough in either camera so stopping down was the only option.

[jnantz]

darin:

the most movement i used was when i was documenting the walls of a quarry outside of boston. i was 300 feet up, tethered in about 10 feet from the edge. camera tilted down to get the bottom of the quarry & the camera's back /front leveled off to straighten everything out. yes, i am kind of freaked out by heights - still

- john

[Frank Petronio]

The classic portfolio/student product shot of a couple of staggered wine bottle often requires extreme movements, compared to most landscape or portrait situations. You're usually shooting down at the subject, requiring a large amount of front drop/rear rise; a swing the keep the two bottles in focus; and maybe some tilt depending on the foreground.

Tilting the camera down plus swing = yaw, the elimination of which Sinar managed to turn into a marketing advantage.

Shots like these used the full image circle of 210, 240, 300 Symmars - and were done by the thousands, everyday, for years.

[Ernest Purdum]

I used to do product work and more often than not shot from well above the subject with a long lens, 300mm on 4" X 5", the object being to show two sides and the top of the product. Not having any back rise, the rail would be pointed well down and lots of tilt at both ends would be used to keep the verticals straight.

[David Flockhart]

Slipping on wet smooth ice and contorting like a pretzel to stay upright.