Fun with cameras

Recently, I have been getting into photography. Partially due to my job and the resources available here, but also due to all of the interesting things to photograph out in this part of California.

My manager, Theseus, and I have recently become very interested in a type of photography called tilt-shift photography, where the plane of the image that is in focus is rotated around 2 axes to artificially shallow the depth of field. If you didn't understand that, no matter: the main reason to do something like this is to make a faux macro image. For example. Of course, one of these tilt shift lenses costs upwards of 1000USD, a not-insignificant sum.

Needless to say, with a dearth of work and nearly infinite camera resources, we decided to try and make our own tilt-shift lens for far cheaper.

Combine 1 part high-end SLR, 1 part custom-made lens of unspeakable value, 2 parts espresso, and about 30 parts duct tape, and we managed to make an unabashedly haphazard yet effective tilt shift lens. Of course, all sorts of regulations relating to NDA's and good taste prevent me from showing a picture of the final delightfully horrific Frankensteinian creation. But fortunately, I can show you the intial promising results.