Faking a Tilt Shift Photo
Hi, everybody. I’m going to show you how to make a Fake Tilt Shift effect in Photoshop. I have used Photoshop CS4 for this tutorial. This photoshop tutorial is quite simple.
I came from the photography scenary and discovered the Tilt Shift Lenses about two year ago. 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.
Here is what we are going to do:
We’ll use this one: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1214107
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” or press the “Q” key.
Select the gradient tool.
Select the “reflected 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” pressing “Q” key.
In Photoshop CS 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’re free to experiment.
(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”.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
thank you and more poser
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:28 pm
i see no point for this. sorry, but that was lame.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:44 pm
A friend recommended me to look at this page, brill post, fanstatic read… keep up the good work!
April 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
awesome ! (:
May 20th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
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June 28th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
There seems to be a bug or something on this page or some fonts are not installed on my PC. Somehow not everything is displayed correctly. Any ideas?
July 12th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Wow, amazing.
I was wondering if I can achieve same result with Photoshop 7. Please let me know.
July 15th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Wow that was interesting. ive also seen simulating a tilt/shift lens to use during exposure. im not sure i like titl/shift photography though it looks weird to me with everything really small. nevertheless very interesting tutorial. thanks for sharing =)
August 12th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
It seems like the ones of the houses worked really well. I’m guessing even with a real tilt-shift lens, certain scenes will look more miniaturized than others. Great tutorial.
October 13th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Hey. Great post as always. Keep it up.
March 11th, 2011 at 6:42 am
very nice collection, i follow also this site for creating effects on Photoshop Tutorial
March 22nd, 2011 at 7:20 pm
I love to use this technique to draw attention to what I want the viewer of my photos to pay attention to. I use this on any photo that’s overly “busy.” Your tequnique is quick and easy using standard photoshop, and I’ll probably start doing it your way a bit more.
I tend to use the Alien Skin Bokah filter to get this effect, but the plugin is a bit expensive, so it might not be worth it unless you’re a professional.
April 30th, 2011 at 2:13 am
Thanks so much for this, was really simple and easy to remember.
July 7th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
it’s very nice tuts . I like it, Thanks for sharing!
September 20th, 2011 at 8:56 am
i find it very well.Very to drive,so simple.
December 27th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Nice tutorial. Thanks for sharing