What lens does Keith Loutit use?
In 2009, Keith Loutit documented the waterworld of Sydney Australia over 12 months.
The new views have transformed the city, and its residents’ perceptions of it, into one of a surprised re-examination of their hometown. Although Sydney is depicted as a tiny drop in the ocean, the city definitely isn’t boring!
Look out for Keith’s documentation of a lifesaver rescue when a Westpac rescue helicopter saves a fisherman who has fallen into the ocean. This project involved more than 100,000 photos taken over three months: Touted as his Small World Project, Keith shares “The idea will be to shrink down mankind to be a little more representative of our actual position in the world.”Arts Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Clare Morgan, writes “By playing with focus, vantage, perspective and the viewer’s perceptions of reality, Loutit challenges people to see their environment differently.”Enough of the background, give us the tech specs!OK, so here’s the part that you photography fiends have been waiting for:Keith achieves this miniature look using tilt-shift techniques.Tilit-shift encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane.Here is the lens that Keith uses:For a cheap solution, this USD100-150 lens is sold by Lensbaby. Just screw it onto your DSLR and get snappy.Canon also sells some more upmarket ‘tilt-shift’ lenses. Nikon’s lenses ‘‘perspective control’ achieve the same results. Keith used a Nikon D3 for his Bathtub series with a tilt-shift lens. To get Keith’s look, think short depth of field with your lenses.Canon and Nikon have a nice range to chose from.Time lapse is the other magic element that makes all of this work together so nicely.Time lapse is an art in itself. It is not just a matter of using the right lens in this field of work, but also setting the right ISO to capture the light and colour that you want.
We checked out the work of a time lapse master, Tom Lowe. His camera captures the stuff that dreams are made of.
Nets of star dust streaming past cactus silhouettes in New Mexico.
Here’s a beautiful video demonstrating his prowess:
Timescapes: Timelapse Dolly Project
By the way, Tom uses the Canon EOS 5D.
He places his camera on a tailor made moving platform to gain that extra ‘edge’.
Tip: For the night shots, he set his ISO at 6400 @ f/1.4.
