Technique - how is this done

[ENCORick]

Good morning all!

New to the forum, first post.

I ran across a website today that has a series of time lapse photos in a loop for the background... I'm not interested in the web portion, but in the photographic technique that generated the images.

Is this tilt-shift, or some form of post processing in PS?

Link to website: Brasfield & Gorrie, General Contractors

 

[The_Traveler]

A total guess from someone who knows little.

there looks like just one large area in the centre of some that was in focus with OOF area around it.
Post-processing I would imagine rather than tilt shift which would show more of a band of focus across the image.

 

[amolitor]

I think it's just a "toy" effect applied in post, which just leaves a band of the picture sharp, and then applies a more or less graduated gaussian blur elsewhere.

There were one or two of them where I am pretty sure I could prove it's not a simple T/S lens, but I'm not positive.

 

[Braineack]

...yet this website doesn't take forever to load unlike others around dem here parts...

 

[Overread]

The effect can be made by either Tilt shift or toy/tiltshift effect editing. I would argue this is editing over the lens as I do see a couple (as mentioned above) which show a band or area that doesn't appear to be distance based but rather as if applied by a layer over the shot (ego if that band goes over something in the foreground that normally wouldn't be rendered sharp with a lens it is by the editing).

It's a fairly common effect and google will show a lot of guides for how to perform it (I've not done it, but from what I recall the process itself isn't too complicated).


You can use a tilt shift lens for the effect, but the costs (of course) do go up for that approach.

 

[Compaq]

The keys to the miniature effect are as follows:

1) Take the picture from above. It should look like as if your are standing above a model street, bending over and looking down over the model.
2) Blur everything except some small part in the middle. If you are standing above and looking down, from a short distance, your depth of field will be limited. Hence, to copy this in photoshop or gimp you will have to apply some sort of blur gradient.

When these are combined, maybe along with increasing colour saturation, your subject will look like a miniature (to a smaller or larger extent). Some subjects work better, such as those you linked to. Sceneries with much going on work well, such as those with cars, trees, people, buildings, or other things we might see in model towns.