DIY tilt-shift photography

Tilt-shift photography uses special lenses to change the perspective and tos.org/faking-depth-of-field/">depth of field; the lens is both tilted and shifted according to the Scheimpflug principle. [more] A popular use of tilt-shift photography is for minature faking, making a “real” scene look as if it’s an artificial minature model. [tography.net/">more] [tography/">50 examples]

There are methods for digital software as well as homemade devices and mods for your camera.

Homemade tilt-shift projects

Captain nod's Plungercam 2 uses plumbing supplies and gives you the effect of a Lensbaby on the cheap ($25). [tos/captin_nod/3380908441/in/set-72157619127553773/">photo] [tos/captin_nod/3763460228/">test video]

Tilt-shift photography with the Gimp

There are techniques to do this with the Gimp and other open-source, free software tools. [discussion]

The results are tos/earth2marsh/109236489/">every bit as good as traditional, film-based tilt-shift. [tos/earth2marsh/sets/72057594078982967/">more]

Gimp tilt-shift tutorials:

What does it look like when done? Here’s an example of one photographer’s attempt with Gimp.

For further reference

Flickr’s tilt-shift minature fakes pool.

A torials/fakemodel/">Photoshop tutorial for the fake model effect.

See the special tilt-shift lenses for Canon cameras stocked by Amazon.

Search google for more

First published on March 8th, 2009 at 12:48 pm (EST) and last modified on August 11th, 2009 at 9:24 am (EST).