Maybe you have heard of freelensing. Odds are though, even if you have heard of it you have yet to try. Freelensing is taking photos with a (d)slr and the lens DETACHED from the camera and moved around to focus. It's what many refer to as the poor man's tilt/shift. I have been doing a great deal of experimenting with it over the last couple of days and I have figured out a few things. First, check out Luke Robert's site for more info on how to than you will get here. He is the originator of this really cool technique: http://lukeroberts.us/2009/12/freelensing/
OK, first off it is best to select a lens with a minimum focal length of 35mm and 50mm is even better. A large maximum aperture is also good. Like f2.8 or bigger. I have been using my oldish Nikon 50 1.8 D. The D is very important in that Nikon D lenses have the ability when detached from a camera body to have the aperture blades remain fully open.
Now you have a detached D lens or the Canon, Panasonic, Leica, etc.. equivalent. Like I said earlier, I am mainly using my Nikon 50mm 1.8D. Set your focus manually to infinity. You will also need to manually meter the scene. As your aperture will not change I shoot in full manual mode and I suspect shutter priority would work the same. Now, with your lens detached but very close to the body of your camera, point your lens at an object (assuming you are using a 50mm) within 2 to 5 feet of your outer lens element. Here's the fun part; swing your lens just a little left or right until something comes in to focus. You can also lift (rise) or tilt downward (fall) the trajectory of your lens. You can also move closer or farther from your subject to see what comes into focus...
Note: It is possible and even very likely your sensor, as your lens is not attached, when trying out this technique will get dusty. Bring a rocket blower or whatever you have to clean your sensor.
It quite a bit of fun to play with. There's a very good wedding photographer, Ryan Brenizer, who uses this method quite successfully. Check out his blog here: http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/blog/ He's a very talented photographer...
Oh, one more thing. You need to check out this short tilt/shift, stop motion piece on Haiti: http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/01/11/132832171/haiti
Here are some of my shots from the Silver Creek area taken today:
The extremely razor thin depth of field is evident in the image below:
An attempt at freelensing product photography...
By virtue of not having the lens attached you can get "light leaks" which wash out the image even more.
The image below was taken with the Nikkor Micro 105mm 2.8 D lens. I used it to allow for a greater distance between me/my camera and what I could have in focus.
Below was my first attempt. I was too far from my subject and could not get anything in focus...