The next lesson is about how is it possible to get the effect of Tilt-shift camera lens to your photos.

When a picture is made with the effect mentioned above, the foreground and the background get lost, but the only sharpening element remaining is a thin picture’s line which is strictly perpendicularly on the camera lens. Having such camera lens, the effect is even more interesting if changing the depth of field (DOF). It means that you may get sharpening details, situated on the foreground, but also the elements that are seen on the horizon. But everything else will get blur.

Let’s try to imitate this effect in Photoshop and transform a usual city scenery into a miniature, processed with tilt-shift camera lens.


1. We’ve chosen for our experiment a shot made from a high point. Because of this the plane of focus (POF) may be let down  - from the buildings’ tops to the people on the sidewalks.



2. Open the file containing the city scenery. Make a copy of the background’s layer, moving the layer on the icon Create New Layer on the lowest part of the Layers Palette. The new layer will be named Blur.



3. Make sure that the Blur layer is active. Make a click on the next option - Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. We’ve chosen 2 px for Blur Radius value. Press OK. The layer will completely blur out. Now we have to mix parts of this layer with the background’s layer to get the effect of smaller depth of field.



4. Not leaving the Blur layer, make a click on Add Layer Mask icon on the lowest part of the Layers’ palette. We’ll get a white mask near the layer’s pictogram. Very soon we’ll need it for mixing the fragments of the blurred layer with the background’s one.



5. Select the Gradient Tool by making a click on (G) button or making a mouse click on the corresponding icon on the toolbox. Make sure that the colors of the foreground and of the background are black and white (D) button. Make a click then on Reflected Gradient on the tool’s options bar.



6. The Gradient tool will create a very smooth transition between the foreground’s color and the background’s one. Check out if the tool’s settings correspond with the default settings – make a click on the Gradient picker on the options bar. Then we have to choose the Foreground to Background icon and press OK.