Tutorial & Competition: Tiltshift with Photoshop

Tutorial & Competition

September 30th, 2010, 11:13 am

Like our last tutorial the tiltshift technique originally comes from analogue photography. Today we reproduce it digitally with Photoshop to give a photo of a real situation the appearance of a tiny model railway scene.

Not long ago this effect was largely unknown, but since the latest commercials and viral videos most people have seen it in pictures and videoclips. We show you how it works.

For this tutorial the selection of a suitable image to start from is extremely important. In the end we want the result to appear like we are looking at a miniature scene. It is thus beneficial to choose a picture which shows the scene from above.

Once you found the perfect picture we can get going. We use Photoshop CS5 in this tutorial but it should also work with other image editors featuring layer masks and blurring filters.

1. In a first step we copy the background by dragging the layer on the “create new layer” button or simply clicking this with the background layer selected.

2. To this new layer (background copy) we add a layer mask by clicking on the button with the white circle in the layers panel.

3. It is now important to make sure that the mask, which we just created, is selected. Select the gradient tool (it’s where the bucket symbol is) from the tool bar and choose the reflected gradient as you see above. To work on the mask pick black as your foreground color and white as background. Start from the middle of the area you want sharp later on and drag the gradient in the direction in which you wish the focus to fade off. You won’t see much at first, but don’t worry. You will, once we applied the effect in the next step.

4. Before applying the effect you need to make sure that the copy of the background layer, not the layer mask, is selected. Choose a blurring filter, in our case the Gaussian blur, and apply it to the picture. It’s best to play around with the radius until you find the best setting for your picture. In Photoshop versions CS to CS5 you can also use lens blur to create the effect.

5. By now you should definitely see the effect. To improve it you can do some further work on the layer mask. Select the mask and pick a soft brush tool with opacity set very low (3-15%). Use black to selectively “re-sharpen” areas and white to add blur. The darker an area on the layer mask is, the more of the underlying layer shines through. To finish it off and to avoid hard transitions I applied the Gaussian blur filter to the layer mask.


6. In the last step we add a little bit more plasticity to the scene as we are looking at a modelled miniature scene after all. Select the original background layer and choose the “unsharp mask” filter. As with all values shown in this tutorial the settings for this picture are only exemples and by no means mandatory. Our tip: zoom the panel’s preview window in on an area with a lot of detail and texture to monitor how the filter affects your picture.
The picture looks quite good now and it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see a scene straight out of a model railway.

Competition

As last time we of course want to see what you make of it. Try yourself and send your most beautiful miniature worlds to [email protected]. With your submission you can win a 30€ print credit for print24.com ($30 in USA and Canada). The winner will also have his picture honoured here in our blog.

Submitted pictures must be your own work. Entries can be sent in until October 7, 2010. You must be 18 years or older to participate. Employees of print24.com and associated companies, as well as their relatives may not participate.

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