Why do I use my 45mm tilt-shift lens so often? Because I can. Because I like focusing manually. Because it is sharp. And because I can do shots like this even at a wide aperture:

I just shot some pages of one of my exhibit guestbooks. I did this for the upcoming Photosensitive “Picture change” Project, which I am very much honoured to be a part of.

To make pictures of a book like this from behind it, I would normally need to be at, perhaps, f/16. Which would mean no hand-holding, but a tripod and a long exposure. But by tilting the lens down, just as if I were using a view camera, I can shift the plane of focus so that the entire book is in focus even at a wide aperture like f/4. Simple and quick.

I used my tilt-shift yesterday as well, to do some nudes, as training material for the upcoming “art nudes” course. You can see them on my Tumblr feed. Not an obvious lens choice, perhaps (I would normally want a lens in the 35mm range, in a small room), but a good choice under the circumstances, where I am pointing up and down (which is where the shift comes in).

___

(By the way: there is still space on the course, just two spots left; and there are more courses planned too: see http://www.cameratraining.ca/Schedule.html)