Tilt-Shift Like a Photographic Pro

TILT- SHIFT PHOTOGRAPHY HAS A LONG HISTORY, and is a complex subject, requiring a special lens that can move relative to the plane of the film or sensor that it’s casting light on. Over time, the term has come to be used for the simulation of razor-thin depth of field on digital compositions, particularly when it comes to creating a miniature effect—the idea that you’re looking down on a tiny model of something, rather than at the object itself.

That’s what we’re looking at here. The diorama illusion makes something look like a scale model of itself, and can fool your brain so completely that it takes a moment to process what you’re looking at. It works because depth of field decreases as magnification increases, so the limited part of the image that’s in focus tricks the eye into thinking it’s closer than it is, and therefore what you’re looking at must be very small. But to get there, you need some Photoshop trickery…. 1 CHOOSE A PHOTOGRAPH Selection of image is key here. You want something with a strong central subject that can be kept sharp, while the rest of the image dissolves in various levels of blur. Cityscapes shot from above work very well, as do soccer games, or railroads—especially if you can see trains passing one another. If you’re lucky enough to get a bird’s eye view of an airbase or airshow, a row of jet fighters lined up with military precision makes for a fine subject, even better if you can catch an aerobatics team taking off in formation. Whatever you choose, look out for strong shapes and central features, plus a receding background—something you can imagine being made into a model, no matter how intricate it would be. 2 PREP YOUR IMAGE It can be a good idea to play around with your photo in Lightroom or Camera Raw, before you get on to the tilting and shifting. You want your image to have crisp edges, so a little bump of the “Clarity” slider might be a good idea. Not too much, though, as this can create ghosting—edges that aren’t really there along the lines of existing ones. Push the saturation a little, too— models are rarely painted naturalistically, and brighter colors will enhance the illusion that you’re looking at something small. You can apply Camera Raw from the “Filter” menu in Photoshop CC, and to any image, not just Raw files. 3 ADD A GRADIENT Now’s a good time to save or create a History snapshot, as you may want to return to this point over and over again. Put Photoshop into Quick Mask mode using the button (a rectangle with a circle inside) at the bottom of the toolbar, near the colors. This means that whatever you paint now will become a selection when you exit the mode. Make sure the default colors are set, then select the Gradient tool from the toolbar—it looks like a rectangle fading from black to white, and nests with the Paint Bucket—and select the fourth option along in the “Options” bar at the top: a reflected gradient. Now draw a straight line up the picture (hold Shift) that covers and slightly exceeds the area of the image you want to remain in focus. Try this as many times as it takes to get it right. If you want to place the gradient at an angle, you can, but keeping perpendicular to the edge of the image is probably easier to begin with.

4 FAKE FRILLS You should find the intended sharp part of your image fills with red, and that it gradually fades out as it moves away, marking the transition from sharp focus to blur [ Image A]. Exit Quick Mask mode using the same button you used to enter it, and you should have the familiar marching ants of a selection. Go to the “Filter” menu, and choose “Lens Blur” from the “Blur” options. A new window opens [ Image B], giving you a few options for faking the type of lens used to shoot the diorama. Mess with them if you want, but we found the default settings produced a pleasing result. Hit “OK,” and admire your work. 5 ALTERNATIVELY… This wouldn’t be Photoshop if there wasn’t more than one way of doing things, and Adobe has seen fit to introduce a Tilt Shift filter of its own. Using this, found on the “Filter” menu under “Blur Gallery,” you can set the sharp point of your image without having to draw a gradient first. To our eye, however, it creates a slightly less convincing effect than the first method, probably thanks to the use of the Lens Blur filter. It’s friendly enough to use, and offers the ability to constantly preview the effect [ Image C]. At the center of the image is a pin, which marks the center of your sharp area, so move it to the correct place. The lines surrounding it mark the beginning and end of the blur transition, and can each be moved independently to fade the sharpness in and out as smoothly or suddenly as you want. You can have more than one pin, but there seems little need to for a diorama, and once you’ve created one, they can be hard to get rid of without starting over. You get plenty of options with this filter, with a useful slider for altering how highlights are treated in the bokeh, adding an ecclesiastical quality to any photo containing big windows. When you’re happy, hit “OK” at the top of the interface, and save your new creation.