The Cellar - August 21, 2012

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- Image of the Day (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=10)

- - August 21, 2012 - Chinese Garden (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=27918)

August 21, 2012 - Chinese Garden

Tilt-Shift

http://cellar.org/2012/gart.jpg

Image by Lachlan Sear

"Tilt-shift photography is a creative and unique type of photography in which the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model."

"To add good miniature effect to your photographs, shoot subjects from a high angle (especially from the air). It creates the illusion of looking down at a miniature model. A camera equipped with a tilt-shift lens, which simulates a shallow depth of field, is essentially all you need to start."

From Smashing Magazine

You don't even need a special lense: you can easily recreate the effect in Photoshop/GIMP, once you've taken your photo from a high angle as suggested above. It's a two-step process:
1. Increase colour saturation (colours in a macro-mode photo seem brighter than in a long-distance colour).
2. Apply a blur filter so the upper and lower parts are blurred and the central area stays in focus (this fakes the limited depth of field of a macro-mode photo of a small model).

I'm not too keen on Chinese gardens. You mow one, an hour later, you need to mow again.