Faux Miniature Photography?

AutumnJazz · Apr 29, 2008

I don't think I spelled it right, but I'm talking about the kind of photography where some kind of birds-eye view is taken of some kind of cityscape or something, but it is done in such a way so that it appears to be a photograph of a scale model, and not the real world. Adult Swim uses photographs like that in their bumps.

I think there is a wikipedia article about it, but I can't find it.

So, anyway, I want to know how to achieve this affect. Is it just photoshop manipulation or does it have to do with lenses or something else?

david b · Apr 29, 2008

tilt shift and it's primarily large format

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

AgX · Apr 29, 2008

Use a lens with a spherical focal plane.

tim_walls · Apr 29, 2008

You use tilt on a tilt-shift lens or view camera to bring only a small part of the scene into focus.

My personal theory is this: the brain expects a large depth of field on things which are distant - ie. It expects everything at infinity to be in focus typically. In this sort of photo you simulate a very narrow DoF by tilting the focus plane; your brain rationalises that the scene must be a miniature viewed close up.

walter23 · Apr 29, 2008

Tim's right - it's mainly a consequence of a narrow field of focus induced by tilt.

Finding the right perspective (point of view), usually elevated, and using a slightly long normal lens also helps by minimizing the appearance of perspective convergence, which is what you'd expect looking at a small model from above.

walter23 · Apr 29, 2008

BTW, people also have reproduced the effect by just using selective blur in photoshop, but it's not as convincing. With a real lens you've got objects at different placements blurring appropriately, whereas in photoshop you can only really blur things in a rougher geometric sense without any depth (unless you put in an unbelievable amount of work and have an incredible amount of skill).

Wait this is apug, I shouldn't be talking about such things. I guess it's okay, I'm saying it doesn't work very well compared to using the right lens movements.

bjorke · Apr 29, 2008

Almost all the examples you see these days are photoshop, using the "lens blur" filter and a flat gradient for the depth. It was last year's Clever Thing and always looked lame to me.

Amazingly, in a lot of regional art markets, (say, Japan, Brazil, or Finland), the first person to drag such prints into the local galleries got widely acclaimed as the "inventor" of this idea. They are all bogus though. David Kennerly (or was it Duncan? I forget) even used it for congressional hearings to isolate the tiny president amid the crowd.

Denis P. · Apr 29, 2008

bjorke said:
David Kennerly (or was it Duncan? I forget) even used it for congressional hearings to isolate the tiny president amid the crowd.

It was David Burnett, and it was not photoshopped. He used an Aero Ektar lens (178/2.5) with a Speed Graphic (later dubbed "Burnett Combo" )

Denis P. · Apr 29, 2008

Actually, I might have mixed up the photos... perhaps Bjorke was referring to another photo... I remember the Burnett shot of Kerry, but not at the Congressional hearing, but during an election rally or something.... so it might have been another photo - but it has all the characteristics discussed here (tilt with very narrow DOF, isolating the main subject).

AutumnJazz · Apr 29, 2008

But I don't have the money for Large Format.

removed account4 · Apr 29, 2008

OverlordXenu said:
But I don't have the money for Large Format.

then i guess you gotta do the lensbaby thing

Maris · Apr 29, 2008

The easy way to get the effect is to take a photograph of a photograph of the scene. The second photograph is most effective when the camera's focus plane is not parallel to the original picture and the lens is a maximum aperture (or tilted) for minimum depth of field.

keithwms · Apr 29, 2008

Along the lines of what Maris is saying, you can also throw your enlarger out of whack and get similar effects, or do a contact print in which you lift edges....

I confess that I found the effect interesting for a few weeks and did the usual with tilt on a mini-view camera...

http://keithwilliamsphoto.net/Closer to Home/Monticello.html
http://keithwilliamsphoto.net/Closer to Home/Mr Jeffersons Columns.html

Paul.A · Apr 30, 2008

Tilt and shift can be done on an enlarger easily enough. Just remember to put it back to normal when you're done otherwise you'll be cursing your camera and technique when you can't find focus.

AutumnJazz · Apr 30, 2008

I don't have an enlarger...yet. I need to find out how much they cost.

I think that developing film would be too daunting for me right now, but I think I could pull off making some prints in my bathroom.

Faux Miniature Photography?

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