There’s been a lot of hype lately around a photography technique called “tilt-shift”.  Tilt-shift involves bending light through a special lens so that only part of the picture is in focus and the rest is blurry.  The result is focus on objects that are further away and blur on objects that are closer.  This yields some what of an optical illusion as the part that is in focus will then appear smaller (almost miniature).

As I mentioned, there are specific lenses that accomplish this task.  One of the more popular lenses is made by LensBaby.  They’re relatively inexpensive…which is good because they’re fun to play with.

However…for those of us do-it-yourselfers…or just plain cheap photographers…there’s always the “workaround”.  For the tilt-shift, workarounds come in two flavors…both of which I like:  Photoshop and website. 

Website
I’ll start here, simply because it’s free.  1.  Upload picture  2.  Choose focal point  3.  Create image.  It couldn’t be easier.  Check out http://tiltshiftmaker.com.

Photoshop
The Photoshop process yields the same result as the website, but involves a bit of patience and practice.  The Photoshop process involves using a gradient mask and the lens blur filter.  Step by step instructions can be found here.

Here are some photos that I have been playing around with (taken with a normal lens, faked through Photoshop/Website).

   
Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul, MN


DCI (Drum Corps International) Finale 2001, Buffalo, NY

If you’re interested in more tilt-shift photography, check out these sites:  41 Amazing Tilt-shift Miniature Faking Photographs  and   50 Beautiful Examples of Tilt-shift Photography