Tilt-shift photography involves using both tilt and shift camera movements to simulate the depth of field of a macro lens, making life-size objects appear as though they’re actually miniature in scale. The effect can be incredibly powerful, instantly turning a sprawling metropolis into a miniature village or toy town. Many people have been tricked by it over the years and you’ll have to inspect the stunning images below carefully to believe that they are, in fact, real.
While some photographers prefer to use expensive cameras and lenses to create their tilt-shift images, others choose to use postproduction techniques instead. By blurring the top and bottom of an image, as well as increasing its contrast and saturation, you can create a tilt-shift miniature fake that looks just as good (if not better) than the real thing.
Queensland- A Surfer’s Paradise
Image: Erik K Veland
Hilltop View of Bergen, Norway
Image: aha42
A cluster of homes in Karori, Wellington, New Zealand
Image: wellurban
Mini London Skyline
Image: magnetstudio
View of London’s Millennium Bridge from the top of St Paul’s Cathedral
Image: magnetstudio
London’s Shell Centre
Image: tiltshiftphotography.net
Calvin College, Michigan
Image: michael baird
Football Game
Image: pattagon
Otaru Street, Japan
Image: .mushi_king
Baltimore Street Corner
Image: wumpiewoo
Tate Modern, London
Image: jeangenie
Soccer Players
Image: m4r1usha
Christmas in Knoxville, Tennessee
Image: mechwolf42
Nagoya Airport, Japan
Image: pattagon
Traffic in Thailand
Image: 27147
The Spoon Bridge in Minneapolis Sculpture Park
Image: someToast
Sydney Opera House
Image: hey tiffany!
Steam Train
Image: aussiegall
Car Show
Image: baldheretic
Oregon State Beavers
Image: Wikimedia
Southern Cross Station, Melbourne, Australia
Image: JamesDPhotography
Fairground
Image: spike55151
New York City
Image: .mushi_king
London’s Millennium Bridge on a Busy Day
Image: The Daily Telegraph
Key West, Florida
Image: curious oddities
The Bundestag in Berlin
Image: Thpx
Train Station at Night
Image: JanneM
Sydney, Australia From Above
Image: Becky E
Miniature Manhattan
Image: Roger@elaws
A Quiet Highway in Nagoya, Japan
Image: Guwashi999
The ImaginOn Building in Charlotte, North Carolina
Image: Zevotron
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Image: hey tiffany!
Fake-Looking Houses
Image: Roger@elaws
The Square in Christchurch, New Zealand
Image: Joe_Focus
A Little Market in Barcelona, Spain
Image: oseillo
Gravina, Italy
Image: luigi scorcia
A Village in Greenland
Image: Dylan Bishop
Big Ben Captured From the London Eye
Image: Suviko
View From the Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand
Image: Dirk Hartung
Market Street, San Francisco
Image: Reven.
Join the discussion
Some of these are good. Some are terrible, and clearly just someone using Photoshop to blur everything except a stripe through part of the image–without giving any thought to the optics of each situation and the reasons behind why the good ones work.
The top few are exceptional images, i have to re-read the info at the top of the blog to double check that they were real images.
amazing images!
That is an incredible effect. I really thought they looked like miniature models. They are very well done and its a concept that is new to me.
Wow, awesome examples!
Calvin College is right near here in Michigan.
kool collection….gr8
These are really cool.
Agree, some are great, some are terrible. I have a few here (same story
): http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/8191
The effect you created for me was quite unique. Thank you for sharing that experience. I find what you can do with digital imagary quite amazing.
I would like to know how to do this
.
Yes it would be cool to know how you got these effects
Very interesting….I’ve never seen this effect used before….some are great…some not so great…overall its quite amazing
yep, the train one is totally photoshopped, and not very well.
For those saying this is fake/photoshopped, have you ever -seen- a tilt-shift lens photograph before?
This is what it looks like.
Anyway, there are some absolutely stunning photographs in this, lovely work
It’s actually pretty easy to do in Photoshop. 1. Find the perfect image. 2. Activate quick mask mode 3. Select gradient tool, reflected gradient mode in black to white. 4. Drag gradient. 5. Go out of quick mask mode and two zones will be selected leaving the middle “clear.” 6. Filter/Blur/Lens Blur. 7. Adjust your blur and like magic you have a tilt shifted photograph.
Hit the image with a couple of curves adjustment layers and cross process the image. It’s definitely a lot of fun to play with and a lot cheaper than using a Lensbaby.
The vast majority of these are indeed produced with photoshop, not an actual tilt shift lens. I know mine (baltimore street corner) is!
Bravo, it’s veryImpressive !
I have to say this is quite amazing! I would more say stunning for some of these pictures. I think i’ll try that soon, I’ve seen many tutos about it but never found the time to try it. This is definitely a must try!
Thanks,
Max
What an incredible style of photography, I have never seen anything like this before! Truly makes me want to pick up my camera and try this.
Madurodam, anyone?
Mini world in The Netherlands.
Matt is exactly right. Most of these are great, but some, the London Bell Centre for example, doesn’t work.
Optically it doesn’t make sense at all. If part of a light pole is in focus, the rest of it would be too.
Cool collection of images though.
Impressive tilt shift images. Thanks for sharing the excellent photography.
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