Miniature effect on photos

[rgregory1965]

Im am interested in this.....I see that the D7000 ( My new camera ) has the ability to edit photos in camera to the miniature effect....I have seen a few photos done with a shift tilt lens and there kinda cool.

I also use some Corel Paint Shop products that also convert to this theme...

Anyone played around with it that can share a pic or two.....thanks

 

[Big Mike]

I just did a bit of research, and it looks like the miniature effect is very poorly done. It basically blurs the image, but leave a horizontal strip blurred. It's trying to mimic a shallow DOF.

This would work, provided that you were shooting a relatively flat surface, where the in-focus strip was all the same distance away from you. I found THIS example, and if you look at it, you will see that even the tall building in the foreground, has in focus areas...which ruins the effect on the whole image.

 

[480sparky38 37]

Mike is correct. All the camera does is blur the top and bottom of the image. The same can be done in post, and I'm sure it would be much more convincing.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

There is a little more to it, though.

A tilt-shift lens, when tilted, has an area of DoF that will be at an angle, will be triangular in shape, with the DoF closest to the camera being narrow, and farther from the camera DoF will be wider. Also blur increases the further away you get from the area of focus. This blur increases, subtly, the apparent size of things further from the area of focus. This is what really, to our minds, makes the focused subject look like a miniature.