Fun With Tilt-shift and Miniature Faking Photography

Dustin Lemke rappels the Stettner Couloir on the Grand Teton.

So, I saw this thread on the TGR Forums last week and at first I though, “whatever, trick photography, no biggie!” But after reading the entire thread, learning about Tilt-shift, and finding out there is a website to modify your own images with the flare of Tilt-shift…I began to change my tune. Yeah, you can spend thousands of dollars on a camera lens that moves around to give you a true “tilt-shift” image, but for hacks like me…the easy way out is okay.

Reed Finlay skis the Southeast Couloir on Buck Mountain.

Part of the Tilt-shift appeal is that it can give you a more true perspective on what you are photographing without any artificial perspective changes created by the lens.  In some cases, it also has the ability to generate images with the entire field of view in focus…as opposed to just the area you are focusing on.  This practice is often used in architecture when photographing tall buildings.  Its’ pretty confusing really and I can’t really explain it that well, so click on the image to the left, or check out above link for the Wikipedia explanation if you need to know more.

Jeramie Prine climbs Gannet Peak in the Wind River Range.

The part that really got my interest though is the practice known as “Tilt-shift Miniature Faking“.  This practice is related to regular tilt-shift in that it simulates a shallow “depth of field” as encountered when using a macro-lens.  The result is that it creates images that have a miniature feel to them, making the subject seem much smaller than it really is.

Wray Landon skis the Newk Couloir on Buck Mountain.

Anyway, I played with some images I have on TiltShiftMaker.com, a website guaranteed to waste hours and hours of your time, and thought some came out really cool. Give it a try, I think you’ll find yourself making many of your images…miniatures.

Steve Romeo skis the East Face of Teewinot.