Tilt Shift Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make Fake Miniature Scenes
Tue, Jan 8, 2008
I discovered the Tilt Shift technique perusing the photography of Drew Wilson, an uber talented young photographer here in Sarasota. I asked him about the process and he was kind enough to share it with me.
Tilt shift lenses focus on a single part of the photo and shift (blur) the surrounding area to create an optical illusion of miniaturized scenery. Real tilt shift lenses are quite expensive, but a similar effect can be achieved by using Photoshop after you take the photo.
Tilt shift photographs create an optical illusion that makes scenes appear as if they are actually miniature models (like your uncle’s train set). The outer edges are blurred which tricks the eye into perceiving everything in the unblurred parts as miniature. There is a Flickr group dedicated to this technique. It’s a fun post processing trick – and it’s quite easy to reproduce.
Here is my (and Drew’s) Photoshop tutorial for creating fake tilt shift photos.
- Taking the photo. An above ground shot is usually best for this type of technique. Cityscapes, crowds, streets, and similar things are perfect.
- Open the shot in Adobe Photoshop and click onto “quick mask mode”.
- Select the gradient tool.
- Select the “
cylindrical gradientreflected gradient”.
- Draw vertically upwards from where you want the point of focus to be up the screen to the top of the window, and release the mouse button. A red transparent line should appear.
- Go back into “Standard Mask Mode”.
- In Photoshop CS2 or CS3 go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur (Or if you have Photoshop 7.0 you can use Gaussian Blur). Then select the amount of blur you’d like. You can experiment with the radius value a bit to see what amount of blur looks best.
- (Optional) For a more “plastic” feel you can increase the saturation and contrast in the photo.
There you have it – you should have a nice “fake tilt shift” photo. You can experiment with lots of different photographs – some are a lot better than others for “miniaturization”. Below are a few more examples. Feel free to link to your own tilt shift photos in the comments. Happy shrinking!
Tags: fake, mini, miniature, scene, shift, tilt, tiltshift, tutorial
Очень понравилось! Very nice..
Excellent, thanks for this, will be trying out tonight on some old photos.
I love these tilt shift shots.
http://xs125.xs.to/xs125/08104/tilt-shift-brighton-station989.jpg
here’s one!
i just made it. from the brighton station aerial. i dont take credit for the original photo. i take credit for the tilt-shift
Hey there,
I have photoshop 7 and I can’t seem to find where to adjust the radius value. I used Gaussian Blur to blur my image as you mentioned because when I go to Filter>Blur>Blur..the adjusting table doesn’t appear. Whats your advise? By the way..your pics are wesome!
Thanks, Braydon – you have to go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur (not just regular Blur).
Nice, but you are forgetting how to correct the perspective. Actually that’s what really makes things look minuatures. For sure tilt lenses are used for a better contol of deep of field, but the real advantage is the ability to correct perspective as I said
@Mauri: What do you mean by “correct the perspective”?
These are eye candy, I just can’t stop looking at them. I tried this technique and found it much more difficult than I imagined it would be.
Thanks, Ann. I spent an entire afternoon going through my photo collection to find the right pictures for this. It IS pretty tricky.
i used to use such technique heavily to create swallow DOF effect. Never thought this can make things appear like miniatures. Great article. thx for sharing.
DeXtmL
this is amazing. thanks for sharing. I did mine here
http://photoborneo.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=73&forum=17&post_id=693#forumpost693
wow nice images.
Tricky stuff! But I like the simplicity of how you have explained it. It just takes a little bit of trying and then you get the hang of it.
Thanks for this, will be trying my photos
Thomas
Super-wypas. Mega cool effect
Nice one, but to make that kind of pictures you need to think about this before – you cant make it of every picture…
That is a really neat trick to do it! thanks for sharing. I always wondered how they get that blur plus clear look!!!
I see no Cylindrical Gradient tool in my Photoshop (CS3)
@21: It’s actually called “reflected gradient”. Click on Gradient in your toolset (G) and look up – on top left you will see different gradients – select refelected gradient.
And here is my:
http://sylwiabesz.com/photo/2008/08/11/miniaturki01/
Try using a VIEW CAMERA. Scheimpflug would be disappointed.
How do you keep the subject totally in focus while blurring the background so much, everytime i try to do it the subject gets blurred also but not as much as the background?
a couple of mine here http://www.redbubble.com/people/sydneycraig
I have the same problem as John. I do everything as laid out in the tutorial but my subject does not stay in sharp focus. It blurs a little. Not as much as the rest of the picture, but it is definitely blurred. John, did you ever receive an answer to your problem. Does anyone have a suggestion?
@John & tomnat: It takes a bit of experimentation – you have to vary how much of the gradient to extend. I’ll try to post a video of the process soon so hopefully it will help.
Thanks Markus! I do have a comment regarding my problem. I used a different computer to play with the tilt shift this morning and I did not have the problem of the subject blurring. I did the exact same thing as I was doing last night on my other computer, so I was wondering if there was just a box that needs to be checked or some setting that I am missing while using my other computer. At least I got it working on one of my computers. I would still be interested in seeing your video if you were still inclined to make it. Thanks for your help.
Very cool! Thanks!
Great! Thanks!
@John & tomnat: If your subject is blurring a little you can make a duplicate layer, blur the top one then use the eraser tool to reveal the unblurred subject in the layer underneath.
awesome tutorial !!
I too recently got into this. I use GIMP to play with the colours of the photos and then tiltshiftmaker.com to get the miniature effect.
It really helps if your images are vivid to the point of looking like toy colours.
Some of my examples are here: http://hitchedhiker.com/2009/02/13/tilt-shift-photography/
And Here: http://hitchedhiker.com/2009/02/14/toronto-miniaturize/
Hope you like em.
Great tutorial, Thanks
i dont get it… i clicked on “quick mask mode” on CS4 then everything is fine with the red color effect, went back to “standard mask mode”, the color desapears, then when i go to radial or lens blur, nothing happens :/ and i did everything you told.
Also, i’ve used gradiants before, but my freaking photoshop won’t allow me to make a “cylindrical” effect or any other effect when i click on them except the ones i select in the “gradiant picker” wtf ? this is so annoying and frustrating. help?
I have accomplished this effect on accident with my 50mm f/1.8 lens.
This technique has been around for years… Well at least 4
Hey everyone, may seem a dump question, but i cant seem to find the “cylindrical gradient”, all i can find is the linear and all these. Could anyone be kind enough to help me out? It’s for CS3 btw
Thanks!
Hey Patrick, sorry – it’s actually called “reflected gradient” – 4th from the left (I’ll update it in the post too).
Thanks a lot! Figured it out now and I have to admit: Great work with that tutorial! Thank you very much, great results!
Chris, I’m having the same problem. For some reason it seems as if CS4 doesn’t allow gradients in the quick mask mode, or there is some other step required to turn a gradient into a mask.
Can anyone help us figure this out?
I’m with Chris on this one. I did everything you said and am not a Photoshop-moron (completely), but it just looks like a regular photo still. I have CS3 on a Mac, if that makes any difference whatsoever (doubt it).
Emily,
I think the original shot has a lot to do with it. Make sure your subject is very sharp and that you have a wide angle of the surroundings. Also, make sure the colours are very vivid. All of this help with the effect, before you apply it.
Here’s my attempt at one of these, not great work, but I think the context of the photo help the effect.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3641/3615131402_6e77f70c36.jpg
Another way to do this is to use a Black->White->Black Gradient and position it according to the focal point. This gives the image a much more natural tilt-shift appearance by gradually degrading into the focal point and grading away as it distances. Select the layer contents, delete them, and then apply a Gaussian blur while the previous contents are selected.
Doesn’t sound clear, but it’s the way I’ve always fauxed my tilt-shifts.
I’ve put together a video tutorial for creating tilt shift that some of you may be interested in
you can find it at http://www.photoguides.net/photoshopping-tilt-shift-video
wow that was fun. probably not the best pic to use but there’ll be more..
thanks so much guys for this. Another excellent method of passing my insomniatic evenings
here’s my first attempt:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pj-girl/3573524146/?reuploaded=1
Hi
Thanks for the tutorial. I have just done this lot in a hour. I found it was best to vary the type of gradient according to the area you want to blur and you can add areas by going back in and out of the quick mask function.
My photos are here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39844762@N02/sets/72157620962462034/
Thanks for the tutorial guys. Here is my shot at it combining time lapse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5g30tezYq4
Very good….thanks for the tutorial
Cool tut, thanks.
I think it’s worth mentioning that when you’re dragging the gradient line (Step 5), you should drag from the focal point to where you want the picture to be most out of focus, which isn’t necessarily going to be the top of the image.
I did a couple of shots through working out a multi-layer process that although it gave me very precise control over the results was also very laborious. I’ll be sticking with this method in the future I think, although sometimes it might be worth going back to my old way.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2004787&l=56a6f626bc&id=841128958
The old way:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1334901&l=b262fe763d&id=841128958
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1338773&l=6ecb24cc97&id=841128958
One of my first attempts:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosalk/3835875336
What do you think?
Thanks in advance!
Looks good, Carlos, especially for your first attempt. Well done, sir.
I followed instructions and did not get a red haze after I made the vertical line upwards. Help!
This definitely looks like fun. Thanks for the tutorial. Now to break out the wide angle and get some shots!
S.
mi pequeño aporte
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diseniopasto/3674021714/
ciao..!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge about fake Tilt-Shift editing in PS.
Here you can see my first attempt in using this technique:
View on black
Have a nice day
Hey i don’t see where the reflected gradient tool is? the picture in the tutorial isnt working
Great tilt shift effect using photoshop!
The Red car is not an Enzo Ferrari. It is a Honda NSX.
For some reason when I try this the area of focus (red) still gets blurred a bit along with the extreme blur on the edges. How do I get the center to remain in complete focus?
thx
This guys work introduced me to the whole genre, and his time lapse of Sydney with great music really makes me homesick
http://www.vimeo.com/keithloutit
nice pictures very cool
I keep having the problem with my CS3 that when I exit quick mask mode, my “marching ants” select the entire image (even though my gradient is clear in the quick mask mode)- not just the areas I want to blur.
Help!!
Thanks,
Janet
PS- I’m working on this for a project htt://projectartaday.blogspot.com