Calling all photo geeks! The weird and wonderful technique of tiltshifting your photos magically transforms real world scenes into something that looks like a miniature trainset model. It's fun to try with garden scenes, travel shots, or just about anything. This digital re-imagining of an old view-camera technique turns proper perspective on its head. Photographers prized the old, accordionlike camera's shift and tilt controls to correct the problems they encountered when photographing architecture and similar subjects that had to be rendered in perfect perspective. 
Tiltshift uses those same techniques and another trick or two to narrow a photo's depth of field, accentuate some of its color, and manipulate the image enough to make the subject look like a miniature. You can tiltshift your own photos here. Not every picture translates well; the best bet is for views taken from above that encompass a large scene with plenty of foreground and background. Close-ups won't work well at all . Anyway, you can get tips about the right kinds of photos to use here, and see some terrific examples here. Tip o' the hat to boingboing.
19 comments:
AWSOME!
Linda
I saw this on Boing Boing and had the same idea. Your photos really work well with it.
I wondered how this was done! I followed your link to tiltmakers and tried a few garden photos - what a fun idea. Thanks
Well, that's the coolest thing I've seen on the 'net this week!
Good stuff.
It was fun! Nice trick! I like the mini garden. Wish it were real!Think how many you can plant in a small space!
This is fun, Steve. It's like looking at a dollhouse garden.
Thanks, Linda. I think so too. Have you tried it out?
Hey GB--It can be kind of tricky finding the right photo, but once you do the site does all the work.
Hi Susan--So did you get any good results? Will you post them?
Martha--Sure is amazing what's out there, it's all a matter of finding it.
Chandramouli--Yes you can plant a lot of these mini gardens in a small space, but the maintenance would be a challenge.
Hi Pam--Yep, it not only looks like a dollhouse or model train set, it's almost as much fun to play with.
oh my gosh that's way too much fun. At first (and I have to admit to a second) glance, I really thought you had taken pictures of teenie tinie gardens. I'm a little worried that if I try it I won't ever want to see our gardens full size again...
Steve,
Yes, I'm going to post my before and afters later this week and will link back to you. It was a little difficult to find the right type of photo, since the tendency is to take an up close vignette of a garden rather than a distance view.
I didn't immediately connect you with gardening gone wild, but also tried the black and white photography trick you and Nancy blogged about - it's in my blog's "Does this come in anything besides green?" category if you want to check out my results. Apparently you are my blogging inspiration this month.
Hi Steve.. Yes I have tryed it... but your garden turns out better on the photos than my garden!
Linda
Linda--Maybe try some different pictures--some work great, some hardly work at all. High angle pictures shot from a distance work best.
Linda--Maybe try some different pictures--some work great, some hardly work at all. High angle pictures shot from a distance work best.
Kris--Gee, maybe the tiltshift thing is working better than I thought. Bet you could get some really great ones at Blithewold.
Susan--Sounds good. I'll be on the lookout for them.
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