Samples of pictures taken with Canon's tilt-and-shift lens TS-E 24 L/3.5 lens on a 5D full frame camera. I have included some comments below most of the pictures (click on the pictures to read them). I believe this is a very good lens - and fun to use too. All pictures were shot handheld and with manual focus (this lens has no AF, but without tilt and shift the focus can be verified by the camera - half-press the shutter will give a green point in the viewfinder).
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/35mmTS/35mmts.htm has this advise for how to control the tilt such that foreground and background are in focus: "...First focus on the closest foreground object then tilt the lens until the background also comes into focus. You then make minor focus adjustments, close down the lens to the desired aperture and shoot...."