[tweetmeme]Make sure you click this blue bit of text for the Podcast version of this tutorial.

Tilt Shift Photography is the latest ‘big thing’ in the photo world. It uses a very shallow Depth of Field to transform a scene into a tiny toy from a tiny world. It may only be in my eyes, but lately it’s popping up all over the place and is showing some truly spectacular and eye catching results. However, Tilt Shift Photography is very difficult to create in camera. It involves a special lens and of course a lot of money to buy it. Here then is a guide for all you Photoshop owners so that you can create the incredible effect on your own photos with a few simple steps.

Here then is a video guide to creating your own Tilt Shift photos using Photoshop. Remember there’s also a text and image based guide for you to follow along to.

Also, if your internet doesn’t like this Vimeo version and it’s high quality and size, there’s a youtube version as well.

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Before we begin…

This guide is also in a video.

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Step 1: Choosing the Right Photo.

This is a very important part of the overall process. Some photos simply don’t work with the applied effect. To create the best Tilt Shift photo possible you need to remember that miniature models are viewed from above. Thus you need a photo overlooking something from a reasonably high angle. It doesn’t need to be hundreds of meters up viewing a whole city though. Even a single street could work nicely. Just make sure you’re high up and everything should function smoothly.

This is the picture I’ll be using. Left to it’s own devices it’s nothing special. The high angle and the cars buzzing around though make it the perfect photo to Tilt-Shiftize.

Overlooking part of Johannesburg, South Africa. My thanks goes to Paul Williamson (a friend of mine) for letting me use this photo. It really is perfect for the job.

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Step 2: Quick-Mask It.

This is a fairly simple part. Just click the little icon and you’ll be in Quick Mask Mode.

Enter Quick Mask Mode

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Step 3: Choose your Gradient.

For this you’ll need to use the reflected gradient (the 4th gradient icon from the left). This will create your depth of field effect so that there is one main focal point and everything else in the foreground or background is blurred.

This will create your Depth of Field effect.

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Step 4: Draw a Line.

Start your line from your main point of focus (that being the object you want most to look like a toy) and then draw down. The start point will be the object in view and the end point will be where the transition from clear to blurry is complete. You’ll need to experiment with the length of the gradient because this is the make or break aspect of your final image. In my image my central point of focus was the car. I drew the gradient roughly to the bottom of the image because this created the best effect in my opinion.

Experiment with this step. It can make or break your image.

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Step 5: It’s all gone red!

You’re in the right direction. This red section just shows you the gradient you drew before and won’t appear on the final image. If you don’t like the length or think it could be better, just draw your line again.

If it isn’t red then make sure you’re still in quick mask mode.

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Step 6: Exit Quick Mask Mode.

This is pretty simple. Just click the Quick Mask button again to exit the mode (or Q if you like using shortcuts). Your image should now change from being red to having the top and bottom section surrounded by ‘marching ants’. The main point of focus shouldn’t be selected.

The parts selected will be blurred out completely, gradually becoming clear as they near your focal point.

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Step 7: Open Lens Blur.

You’ll find it in Filters – Blur. Selecting this will bring up the interface where you can create your blur and thus your tilt shift.

Click it.

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Step 8: Fiddle.

Now your Tilt Shift will start taking shape. Fiddling is all you can really do here. There’s no right or wrong answer because it all depends on your specific image. To change the intensity of the lens blur you’ll need to play with the ‘radius’ bar. In my case I’ve gone for 25. This level of blur I felt pulled of the tilt shift effect nicely and still looked rather natural. Too much and the background would be too blurred and have no real place in the image. Push ‘ok’ when you’re happy with your lens blur.

Play around here until it looks right in your eyes.

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Step 9: Get rid of the Marching Ants.

To do this simply push Control+D, or for mac users push Command+D. If you don’t do this then any further edits will only occur in the selected region.

Simple enough. It isn’t a real step but some people might miss it otherwise and then their photo would be ruined.

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Step 10: Open the Hue/Saturation option.

Selecting Hue/Saturation will open up a small menu that gives you quick and easy control over the colours of your image.

Press Control+U or Command+U if you’re in a hurry.

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Step 11: Increase your Saturation.

A toy world always has much simpler, brighter and more vibrant colours. Increasing the saturation will change the colours to make the objects look more like plastic. Don’t do it too much though or it will just look too fake. The level once again is up to you and unique to your photo.

Once again, determine your amount based on what you think looks good.

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Step 12: Tweak your Image.

This is pretty much the final step. All thats left to do is whatever you think can make the image look better. Advanced photoshop users might like to adjust the levels (control/command+L). Making the dark points darker can have quite a nice effect.
In my case, I fiddled with the levels and also cropped the photo to get rid of part of the sky. I felt there was too much sky which tampered with the illusion of this being a toy world.

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Finished!

Here’s what I ended up with…

Tilt Shift Town.

I’m very happy with how mine turned out.
If you’ve got your own you’d like to share then feel free to post a link in a comment.

Bunga Arm of Paynesville. Where the calm lake meets 90 miles of vigorous ocean.

Depth of field is one of the most effective characteristics of a photo. It’s an aspect which clearly separates even the top end point and shoot cameras from the simplest SLR’s. Better still, it’s a simple concept which is incredibly easy to manipulate and, if used correctly, can provide you with professional looking photos.

The Depth of Field (DOF) refers to the range of in-focus visibility of the shot, or, in other words, how far you can clearly see. If you’ve seen a photo where the subject is in focus and the background is blurred out then this effect is a result of Depth of Field. In this case we say the photograph has a shallow depth of field. Alternatively, if there is a photo where you can clearly see a significant distance, like above, we say it has a deep depth of field.

Manipulating the DOF is probably as straight forward as it gets, and this is because it’s directly related to your cameras aperture. Basically, a wider aperture will give you a shallower depth of field, and a smaller aperture will make the DOF deeper and give you a greater viewing distance. By zooming in on your subject you’ll find the DOF appears to be shallower, and, if you have a wide angle lens then you’ll find your depth of field to be deeper.

Probably the most commonly used situation for a shallow depth of field is when taking photos of people. You’ll find that the background blurs out and the person in focus is clearly seen and nicely framed, almost as though they are separated from the background. When you switch your camera to portrait mode, a wide aperture will always be chosen to create this effect. The best situation to use a deep depth of field is for landscape shots where you want to capture as far as the eye can see. By selecting a landscape mode, the camera will once again use aperture to create a deep DOF.

But how does depth of field work?

When we see light, we aren’t just seeing one beam, but rather a countless number. If you open the aperture to be wider, then these light rays can enter the camera with relative ease, which causes your subject to be in focus and the background and foreground to be softer and out of focus (a shallow Depth of field). By closing the aperture though, you’re cutting out a significant portion of entry space, meaning that these rays have to enter in a much finer state. This subsequently causes your photo to have a much deeper DOF, and the back and foreground are more in focus than before.

To most people though, none of this complicated explanation really matters. After all, its as easy as pushing a button to make it shallower or deeper. The best way to learn though is of course to experiment and play around for yourself.