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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Tilt-Shift Videos, Cool Stuff

Dominik Muench

Dominik Muench

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ive been thinking about the shooting technique for a while and how its done but i cant quite put my finger down on something more specific.

the first video of the beach for example with the rescue chopper.....i assume its shot down in sydney....must be staged somehow, cause how would they have gotten the shots of the fisherman getting swept into the ocean and the chopper doing the rescue work ? the slow rotor movements of the chopper make me wonder if there is some sort of shutter effect going on.
 
It's got a special lens to shoot this kinda stuff,there is a specfic setting etc. To it...cant remember exactly but I was reading it not too long ago,it's been done with still photography for sometime now...motion only started a while back so it's obviously not widely spread but it's an effect I'm sure we'd all find sum use for eventually...
 
I would love to hear a final explanation as to what goes into this. I think it is one of those special lenses that let you mess with the pane of focus but I don't know the details and if there is more to it. Hope someone can explain it step by step.

About the helicopter video. GORGEOUS PIECE!
People need to watch this: http://vimeo.com/3156959


I thought the locations, photography, colors, plus timelapse, plus the optical effect was great. But the helicopter video should be viral!
I don't think it was staged. It seems this guy likes people watching. I don't know that this is the case but I am quite sure he simply filmed the guy as the tide was rising. He seemed to be in a precarious situation to begin with. I wonder if he was just filming or if he is using a DSLR on a timelapse cause there is a frame of the guy in mid air, arms and legs wide open, and in perfect orientation for the camera. If that was captured with a little luck, then the guy swimming out away from the rocks just happened to be within his framing reach... and the Heli comes down right there and gets the guy, all in your timelapse?! Now you got something worth a little effort. He could have then found the heli port/station and asked them if they were going to take off any time soon. Showing them the footage witht he frame of the guy falling in would immediately make them very friendly. They could have then told him when they were going to do some hovering training and told him where that would take place. They also could have let him film the process of taking the heli out to the pad and get them taking off, and landing on their way back. They might have even said that they thought the guy would like to watch the video and gave him a call. Then the guy might have thought it was a marvelous little video and agreed to stage the shots where he comes out of the heli and greets his family for the happy ending (notice the editing).

The music is fantastic and fits perfectly also.

It is a phenomenal little piece! So vibrant, amazing scenery, with a fantastic story telling of a cute story with a happy ending! Just great!
 
While this effect can be done with a tilt shift lens, I bet the visual technique used in this video is done using a post process similar to this one.
http://www.tiltshiftphotography.net/photoshop-tutorial.php
The reason I doubt this is done on a tilt shif lens is because of the amount of blur that was achieved. Being that far from the subject the lens would have to be focused near infinity. With the focal plane near infinity there is no way that the foreground and background would be that far out of focus,
What sells this video is
A: the shallow depth of field on a scene that by physics standards should be deep
B: the speed increase of all the objects in the scene. Big things move slow, little things move fast.
C. the angle that he shoots these videos is always from above, looking down, making the viewer effectively larger than the scene.
I think the guy did a brilliant job at selling the illusion, but I guarantee it is not a tilt shift lens.
 
If you want to know something specific, you can PM him at Vimeo and he will probably get back to you.

I love his videos.
 
I'm going to agree with Stefan, I think it's more likely a post process. In fact the first video on the page linked seems to indicate that with where the edges of the out of focus area on the beach cross the scene in relation to how far away certain objects appear.

BTW: For an actual effect achieved with a lens, the Lensbaby works really nice for timelapse. A tilt/shift lens would give a nice effect too. But I'm still going to bet that most of the shots in those videos were blurred in post.
 
I think Stefan nailed it. It's those three simple visual traits that we associate with small things, animation, or miniature photography.
Excellent piece of art.
Cheers,
Harry
 
Very cool. Thanks for posting this. I remember seeing a lot of tilt-shift still images back in the day, but time lapse + tilt shift really has a cool effect. I felt like I was watching a "Thunderbirds" rescue.

That artist really has a nice eye for the wide shots too, especially in the context of tilt-shifting them later (since it looks like it's probably done in post). I wish I lived near the beach too, but c'est la vie.

Still, I bet if Tom and his motorized dolly took a crack at this that we could see even more impressive results! :beer:
 
These are indeed done with tilt shift lenses. Not in post. At least according to the comments that I read a few weeks ago under the Vimeo postings. There are usually subtle visual clues, depending on what is in focus in the frame, that can help you determine if something was just blurred in post or if the focal plane has actually been shifted. I have a set of TS lenses for my Canon and also shoot with view cameras which have full movements, and the effect is exactly as seen here.

The effect is created by tilting the lens back, thus shifting the focal plane. So instead of your DOF being from front to back or close to far, it is nearly up and down (for the sake of simplification) allowing for selective focus within the frame. Someone mentioned this not being possible since you'd be focused at or near infinity, so the DOF couldn't be that shallow. But when you shift the focal plane, you won't be focused at infinity to get those objects in focus. As you rack focus with the lens tilted back the area of sharp focus actually moves up and down in the frame, not front to back. The opposite effect of unlimited DOF is created by tilting the lens forward, as is often done by landscape photographers.

The helicopter piece was staged, also. Keith mentioned the skill of the pilot keeping the Helicopter steady as he was shooting the time lapse which takes a lot of time.

Someone posted some test shots in the footage section a while back of the Cambo X2 system on the RED which is a view camera front. And there is also the Century/Clairmont tilt shift system and I think an Arri system also. All of them will allow this kind of effect.
 
I'm in the process of building a tilt-shift lens for the red. Look here: http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26951
It also gives me really good macro shots. I just need to get a real bellows for it but it works really well.
Shane.
 
Raul Gonzo said:
brilliant! I love the effect. Can't that be accomplished with an extender?
perhaps we should go ask david mullen...
Click to expand...

No, you have to tilt the lens off the focal plane of the camera and it needs to be a lens that will cover a larger format like a Hasselblad or Bronica lens.
 
Paris, you may very well be right. I had forgotten that actually putting the focal plane of the lens to sensor at an angle will blur at any focal distance. Whether these were shot with a tilt shift lens or done in post, it was done correctly to sell the illusion.
 
He did indicate that it was a traditional tilt focus lens.
Liam,
swing and tilts jumped the shark 12 years ago.
I think it's actually ripe for a comeback. ;)
Cheers,
Harry
 
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