Chris Friel

Having recently acquired a Canon tilt-shift lens, I have been avidly trying to learn how to best use it. This includes using the shift mechanism to avoid converging lines for architectural photography as well as using the tilt mechanism for altering the plane of focus to allow front to back sharpness while making landscape images.

But I was also interested in other creative ways in which to use the lens. And that is when I ran across Chris Friel's work.Chris uses the tilt-shift mechanism to create images with selective planes of focus. Rather than utilize tilt to try to bring everything into sharp focus, he often uses it to make most of the image, save a small area, out of focus. In addition to the use of tilt-shift lenses, much of his work is abstract and involves hand holding long exposures (sometimes in conjunction with tilt-shift lenses). His photographs are very powerful, pulling the viewer in and really making them think about the image.

Copyright Chris Friel
Taken With 24mm Tilt-Shift Lens

Copyright Chris Friel
Long Exposure With Camera Movement

Chris's Flickr stream can be found here. His formal website can be found here. Spend some time...these are remarkable images.