Can't afford a tilt shift lens, thank god for PS!

[sam_justice]

I was up a huge highrise today on the roof and saw this crossroad in the middle of the city outside of a shopping centre, thought it would make an excellent tilt shift style photo but I don't have a tilt shift lens (cannot afford one!) Thankfully it's not too hard to replicate in PS, c&c?

:EDIT: for those of you who wish to try this, here's a quick tutorial I've knocked together for you.

The best images for this technique need to be high up looking down, as though you're looking at a model, countryside and cityscapes work the best for this (anything you'd expect to see in a model village (model village?! I'm 22 going on 70..)). Once you've picked your image, load it up in Photoshop.
Now let the fun begin..
Press Q to enter quick mask mode.

Now press G to use the gradient tool.

You want the gradient set to this option.

Now draw a vertical line (vertical!) starting at the point of the image you do not want to be blurred.
Now your image will look like this

Press Q to exit quick mask mode and you'll notice the selection area of your gradient highlighted.

Now go to filter-blur-lens blur.
Play with the settings until you get something you like.

And walah the image now looks like a tilt shift! There are some extra touches I like to do to really make it stand out. Firstly, little models that have lights don't give out anywhere near as much powerful light as there real counterpart. To mimic this effect I burn down the dark areas of the image and dodge up the light areas, this gives the effect of "model lighting" on the image. After this you want to really saturate the colours to give a hand painted toy like feel.

Then sharpen the image a lot to really make the sharp area stand out.

Congratulations, you've saved yourself $$$ on a tilt shift lens.

 

[Sachphotography]

It is not a clean focus. It goes from in focus to out of focus. When blurring make sure to use a gradient mask. It is to heavy of a blur and it is really weird looking. How did you blur it?

Do you have the original to show?

 

[sam_justice]

It is not a clean focus. It goes from in focus to out of focus. When blurring make sure to use a gradient mask. It is to heavy of a blur and it is really weird looking. How did you blur it?

Do you have the original to show?

That's the whole idea of tilt shift.. The selective focus makes the image look as though it's a small model.
It is impossible to do this on a normal lens aside from a tilt shift lens.

Tilt-Shift Photography | Miniature Faking | Tilt-Shift Photoshop Tutorial | TiltShiftPhotography.net
tilt shift - Google Search

 

[tygr1]

I like it a lot. You nailed the scale model look.

 

[Sachphotography]

It is not a clean focus. It goes from in focus to out of focus. When blurring make sure to use a gradient mask. It is to heavy of a blur and it is really weird looking. How did you blur it?

Do you have the original to show?

That's the whole idea of tilt shift.. The selective focus makes the image look as though it's a small model.
It is impossible to do this on a normal lens aside from a tilt shift lens.

Tilt-Shift Photography | Miniature Faking | Tilt-Shift Photoshop Tutorial | TiltShiftPhotography.net
tilt shift - Google Search

Ok I am very aware of the Tilt shift technique. What I am saying is it is not smooth. It is very possible to do this with a non tilt shift lens in PS. a tilt shift image should have a smooth transition from in to out of focus.

 

[g-fi]

I actually really like this, chances are if you said this was a tilt shift image, I wouldn't have contradicted you lol. I LOVE the feeling that this is a miniature set.

 

[sam_justice]

It is not a clean focus. It goes from in focus to out of focus. When blurring make sure to use a gradient mask. It is to heavy of a blur and it is really weird looking. How did you blur it?

Do you have the original to show?

That's the whole idea of tilt shift.. The selective focus makes the image look as though it's a small model.
It is impossible to do this on a normal lens aside from a tilt shift lens.

Tilt-Shift Photography | Miniature Faking | Tilt-Shift Photoshop Tutorial | TiltShiftPhotography.net
tilt shift - Google Search

Ok I am very aware of the Tilt shift technique. What I am saying is it is not smooth. It is very possible to do this with a non tilt shift lens in PS. a tilt shift image should have a smooth transition from in to out of focus.

Disagree, tilt shift blurs are not subtle at all which is what gives the effect.
http://akamai.onelargeprawn.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/tilt_shift_01.jpg

 

[sam_justice]

:edited: added tutorial to first post

 

[Sachphotography]

Is that a real tilt shift shot?
Did you take it?
Is it yours?
don't post pictures that are not yours.

Mods will not take kindly to this.... be careful

 

[sam_justice]

Resisting urge not to troll, go do something constructive.

 

[Sachphotography]

Resisting urge not to troll, go do something constructive.

Did you seriously just say that? back off......:thumbdown:

 

[tygr1]

Resisting urge not to troll, go do something constructive.

Have to agree.

 

[Sachphotography]

In the words of a mod:

Please do not post photos you do not own exclusive copyright to. Thank you. Posting a link(s) is appropriate.

The Photo Forum - Photography Discussion Forum - FAQ

Quote:
* You agree to only post images and/or other material to which you have exclusive copyright, or permission from the copyright holder that you are able to present to TPF Staff. Under no circumstances will any instance of copyright infringement be tolerated.
Visit U.S. Copyright Office when you get a chance, and read through the FAQ's there.
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[el_shorty]

Sachphotography is right, you can only post images you have taken, if that image is not yours you have to remove and change it for a link.

Also, that image you gave as sample is done in Photoshop too, not with a tilt-shift lens, you can see it on this website that gives you a tutorial on how to do it in PS.

 

[sam_justice]

Ugh sach seriously? Added to ignore list.

Sachphotography is right, you can only post images you have taken, if that image is not yours you have to remove and change it for a link.

Done