Miniature people?

dud22 · Nov 23, 2008

Hi all,

I'm trying to get a picture of two people sitting at a table and I want them to look miniature. Like elves or dwarves. Any ideas on how to achieve this effect? I know tilt shift works for scenery shots but will it work for up close stuff?

chrisburke · Nov 23, 2008

big table...or hire midgets..

minikin · Nov 23, 2008

I found this some time ago, but haven't looked into it further.

http://www.vimeo.com/1785993

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_miniature_faking

I'd love to see the results if you try it!

pixeldawg · Nov 23, 2008

You could also do this in photoshop. Shoot the scene, then shoot the people and add them in and size them accordingly. If you shoot the people on a plain background (i.e., seamless white paper), then cutting them out and inserting them will be pretty easy to do.

themaze76 · Nov 23, 2008

It's called forced perspective. If you have access to the first Lord of the Rings Movie (4 Disk Version), there is a great little thing on the special features. Basically, you need to get the table in frame and back the people as far behind the table as needed to make them appear small, but sitting there. It takes a lot of set up, but it can be done with really fun results.

roadkill · Nov 25, 2008

minikin that was bad ass!

djacobox372 · Nov 25, 2008

The key to making people look miniature is to take the photo from above and use an EXTREMELY narrow DOF.

One problem is that at wide apertures, like 1.2-1.8, you won't get very crisp photographs. SO you might want to try to take multiple photos at a higher f-stop with different points of focus and composite in photoshop.

A super-sharp photo with very tight dof will make the people look smaller then normal.

Jon0807 · Nov 25, 2008

something like this perhaps?

http://pixdaus.com/pics/EEFTtQPTQkwIF2d1Rl.jpg

GeneralBenson · Nov 25, 2008

Cool pic. Is that Salt lake?

Jon0807 · Nov 25, 2008

It's not one of my photos, sorry I forgot to mention that

Hyra · Nov 26, 2008

Heya dud22,

I think it can work. If you stand on one of the chairs so you at least have "some" sort of bird-eye view and use a wide angle then you can edit it in photoshop to get the desired effect.

If you just lens-blur the bits that are not the faces-till-a-bit down and use curves to make then have a more "plastic" look I think you're very much on your way

I tried this recently with a picture of mine which wasn't very suitable, yet think the result is "alright" (http://hyra.artinvolved.com/art/miniature-bench_199/)

Lemme know what you come up with! :heart:

prodigy2k7 · Nov 26, 2008

lensbabies might be at work, or photoshop

I dont think its possible to have DoF like in the image of http://www.vimeo.com/1785993 just with a normal lens by itself

SrBiscuit · Nov 26, 2008

just remember that parameters need to stay identical...
this is where i find peoples' "faked" comps to be obvious...especially lighting (angle of lighting, temperature, placement, etc.), so that colors, tones, and shadows all jive