Tilt Shift Photography: The Complete Guide - Section 1 - Introduction 

While 90+% of photographers will never use a tilt shift lens, the rest of us thrive for clear and accurate information on how they can improve our photography images. With that said, my personal photography goal for this year is to "master the tilt shift lens". After spending hours of research listening to those that rented a lens to make a video (and really had no clue how to use them), John nailed it with this video series. I’ve had the opportunity to chime in on other training sessions by John and found him to be one of the best photographers and respected instructors in the county - well worth subscribing to his channel.

Thank you, I never thought there was a course like this. EXCELLENT.

I am waiting for my tilt shift lens to arrive tomorrow. Ths is just what I need, systematic, very clearly delivered, covers so many areas. Superb video, a model of clarity. I'm gonna have fun (and sometimes frustration) learning to use it

Thanks for sharing. I just bought the Mark I 24mm Canon tilt shift second hand (the price was just too good). Thanks for the tip also on the 'fragile' locking knobs. First thoughts & practical tips of my experiments: 1) The mark I version of the 24 TS=E lens does not allow independent rotation of the tilt versus the shift, the Mark II does. 2) Especially the tilt needs practice with focus distance, aperture, tilt amount (and tilt direction), allow yourself some time for experimenting before travelling to an awesome location where you intend to get great photos with this gear. 3) Extreme tilt and /or shift settings can create in-lens vignetting, especially on full-frame cameras, keep in mind while in the field, (p)review the corners and edges of your photos 4) Unlock the tilt and shift controls of your lens while it is in your bag and set the focus-ring to infinity. That way the controls don't get damaged when the bag gets hit by something 5) When you're afraid filters gonna give vignetting, use a step-up ring and a larger size filters. Personally I use 82mm filters on my lens with 72mm thread 6) Have fun !

John, this video is amazing. And to think it's just the introduction to the course says a whole lot about the value.

Excellent presentation of tilt-shift lenses. I have the Canon 24mm and it's great. Thank you for demystifying this lens and insisting that there is more than the “miniature” effect. Additional information: These are manual lenses but at Canon, we still have confirmation of focus with the beep and the red dot in the viewfinder.

Please continue your series on the TS lenses. I have no doubt they will be as excellent as the intro. I know life gets in the way!

i just got interested in one used TS lens. I am doing photography for more than 10 years and havent been interested in TSs, since its price. But now i could aford one, so i started seraching. This tutorial is so great! thank you very much for being kind sharing all these knowledge :) keep watching the series. Thanks John, good light :)

I think it's always a good thing to relieve/support the moving part of the lens a little bit from below with your other hand, especially when up-tilting (but also when up-shifting). The tilting mechanism's gearbox has to withstand less stress and will probably last longer.

I use the front & back shift/tilt features of my 4x5 inch monorail view camera. I also use the limited shift feature of my Nikkor 28mm f/4 perspective control lens. I look forward to viewing your practical applications of shift/tilt features.

Wow, what great content in this tutorial. Very well illustrated and explained. Great job and thank you!!

How easy he makes things to understand! Great video John, it's always a big big addition in knowledge after watching your excellent work, thanks a lot. ( From Pakistan)

Greatest video on tilt shift. Amazing energizing wonderful beautiful incredible awesome memorable phenomenal

Best video on Tilt Shift Lens Out there! thank you very much!

Well you can get Linhof 23 view camera or Cambo DB2 same size as DSL camera and gives you full control of shift till and everything in between 👌

Thanks John. It's a great lesson. I'm going to learn this right this year.

Great video. Very well and in depth explained about tilt and shift.

Great introduction, I was getting annoyed with most other videos I could find just being about what they *can* be used for, and showing examples without explaining *how* they were taken besides "use a tilt shift lens".

Thank you! For once a guide about the actual and original purpose of tilt lenses ... which is not fake miniatures.

Wow, absolutely the best explanation I have seen. I've been looking for something like this for years as I have the Canon 90mm TSE. Thinking about the 17mm for interior architectural. Thanks so much for your presentation.

Superb detailed information. Extremely helpful. Thankyou.

Hi John, nice to see your RU-vid Channel. I am big fan of your courses on CreativeLive and learned a lot from your courses. Keep it up and keep posting new videos..

This is an absolutely amazing video. Excellent explanation and introduction to the course.

I have downloaded this video. Such well explained with examples. I am going to buy one lense. Thanks a lot.

Absolutely fantastic course. Thank you!

I was planned on getting a 4x5 view camera until I got laid off and had a stroke twonyears later..Canon introduced a T/S lens a few years before the layoff but at the time I didn't want to spend that kind if money

Excellent, excellent, excellent video.

Here's hoping this increases the use of TS, or even just S (eg Laowa) lenses; great tools AND fun to use as well!!!

Long video of promises of content to come that really is a sales pitch for a charge class.

The Lensbaby Composer Pro II is a tilt only lens. Quite uniquely it has exchangeable optics. Among others there are the "Edge" optics which are sharp, and the "Sweet" optics which have a strongly curved plane of focus for artistic purposes. They are all much less expensive than real tilt-shift lenses from Canon. There are currently an Edge 35 and an Edge 50, and there used to be an Edge 80. The number of course refers to the focal length.

Do melhor que já vi. Muitos parabéns.

An excellent video well presented and explained I wanted to try something new with my photography and bought a Samyang 24mm tilt/shift lens in mint condition at a good price and am enjoying my photography journey it slow you down and you have to think about your photography.

Nice video and explanations. One small correction: the 19/4 PC-Nikkor does have independent tilt and shift movements in any direction. The older PC-Nikkors do not.

mil felicitaciones, por ser tan didáctico, o hace parecer el manejo del lente fácil, cosa que no lo es, porque tengo T/S 24mm nikon. gracias porque me ayudo a despejar algunas dudas

Inspirational thanks!

NO GREENGO GO LIKE A GREENGO GO😉

great information

Sorry, but couldn't find continuation of this outstanding lecture 😢

As a monorail view camera user for over 30 years, my disappointment with small-format tilt-shift lenses is that you have to live with the lenses that have this feature, and frankly they are not all great lenses. With a view camera, tilts,swings and shifts are part of the camera, and you can apply these movements to all of your lenses. Of course, you also have the same movements on the rear standard, which offers further creative control for geometry. I have been using these movements for decades on the view camera, but the few times I have tried Canon Tilt-Shift lenses I have found them hard to use and have been disappointed with the intrinsic quality of a few of the lenses.

How i put a filter rear lens for canon 17mm f/4 L till shief?

Great job!

It ain't no paper weight. It's a door stop!

I have a question regarding to the different between a tilt at the front and shift at the back lens design vs a tilt at the back and shift at the front lens design. Which design is better? Was there any different in the result between the two designs. If you look at the early Hartblei 35mm f2.8 TS Super-rotator, they have shift function at the front and the tilt function at the back. On the other hand, if you look at Canon and Nikon they have the tilt function at the front and shift function at the back. Thank you.

This is excellent and way above the usual charlatan talk in RU-vid. I use a Mamiya lens for my work (with a Leica S2) and have considered often getting a full frame t/s for Nikon. I have not found your next video on the subject. Are you preparing it?

Dear John. Thank you for wonderful class!!! Now I am eager to try TS Lenses. However, I cannot find next section of your class?! I mean I can find only this Section 1 (Introduction). Please tell me where and how I can find and enjoy your next classes! With best, DJ from Seoul, Korea

Might've told me I had to pay for the course before I watched this !!!!!!!

Great comprehensive video, Thank you so much

Where are the other sections? The only one that comes up in my searches is the last. Are the ithers still on RU-vid?

Thank you!

Push forword

Where's Section 2 ?!

I want to shoot live video over the shoulder of an artist. Can I use a tilt shift lens to change the perspective and remove the keystone of shooting in from an angle? I want to make the artwork look like I'm viewing it straight on, even though the camera is viewing it from an angle.

Just get a view camera.

You should say right at the beginning that this is an intro for $150 course; bloody disingenuous!