Post #429971 by Tom Slick on Wed, Jan 21, 2009 9:58 PM

By most accounts, arial photos work best. Not always way up in the air, but elevated enough above the subject being photographed, actually helps the perception and increases the effect of a "miniature world".
Compare these two photos...The one on top is the original, and the one on bottom has been manipulated in photoshop to give a feeling of miniature models. The actual camera lenses made spcifically for this type of photography are expensive, and photoshop can, with the right photo give off similar results.
original:

Photoshop:

By adding blurred or out of focus/range edges, and increasing color range, while keeping a clear shot on your focal point, you can fool the eye into seeing a miniature world.
The two images below are not mine, but are samples of what can be done.

here are a couple more I did in photoshop:

The trick works better with as little people in the picture as possible. Cars, boats and such from a higher angle are best, in my opinion.
Look up olivo barbieri under youtube.com or google video, and look for the "site specific Vegas" clip....its about 15min long, and shows some movie footage filmed in tiltshift mode. Some shots look like real miniature models, while some shots look forced and fake. Angles, colors and elevation make a tremendous difference when trying to get the shot to look authentic...,
I mean authentically fake. :D

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2009-01-21 22:02 ]