On Location: Tilt-Shift Mountain Biking

Step Four

I want soft focus to add mood and mystery to my shot and I’ve chosen a good location with trees and mountains to throw out of focus for this effect. My lighting will allow me to illuminate my subject on a dark background, further adding nice separa-tion in the shot. What other tools do I have to enhance this mysterious feel? My secret weapon, the PC-E Micro NIKKOR 45mm f/2.8D ED tilt-shift lens.

Tilt-shift lenses allow you to change the focus plane of the lens. You can tilt the front part of the lens and add more depth of field for a pronounced soft focus. To enhance the soft focus effect in the mountain biking image, I tilted the lens to the left, which dramatically throws the sides out of focus.