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 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
January 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Очень понравилось! Very nice..
February 12th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Excellent, thanks for this, will be trying out tonight on some old photos.
I love these tilt shift shots.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
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
March 11th, 2008 at 3:27 am
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!
March 14th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Thanks, Braydon - you have to go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur (not just regular Blur).
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am
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
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
@Mauri: What do you mean by “correct the perspective”?
May 14th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
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.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Thanks, Ann. I spent an entire afternoon going through my photo collection to find the right pictures for this. It IS pretty tricky.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:01 am
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
July 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
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
July 20th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
wow nice images.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:54 am
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.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:28 am
Thanks for this, will be trying my photos
Thomas
July 21st, 2008 at 9:42 am
Super-wypas. Mega cool effect
July 21st, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Nice one, but to make that kind of pictures you need to think about this before - you cant make it of every picture…
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:32 am
That is a really neat trick to do it! thanks for sharing. I always wondered how they get that blur plus clear look!!!
July 24th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I see no Cylindrical Gradient tool in my Photoshop (CS3)
July 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
@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.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:19 am
And here is my:
http://sylwiabesz.com/photo/2008/08/11/miniaturki01/
August 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Try using a VIEW CAMERA. Scheimpflug would be disappointed.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
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?