It looks like a miniature trainset but really, oh that one really is: Olivo Barbieri and fake tilt-shifting photos

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Photograph of the real Queen Mary liner, made to look like a model:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/albaalba/ilx/queenmary.jpg

The latter is by Olivo Barbieri, who uses a tilt-shift lens on aerial views to create fake miniature scenes. Mucking about in Photoshop to achieve a sort of tilt--shift effect is a Flickr craze.

Selfridges:

http://static.flickr.com/38/107313446_79419e728e.jpg

Dresden:

http://static.flickr.com/44/107762718_27a7e5440f.jpg

Myanmar:

http://static.flickr.com/50/107278769_a9c5041eb9.jpg

Swiss trainset model:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/albaalba/ilx/200kjubi-01b.jpg

I'd love a Google Earth that made us all look like toytown models.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 13 March 2006 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

"The Latter" = remnant of cut and pasting, sense fans.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 13 March 2006 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

I've blogged about this fairly recently myself.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Monday, 13 March 2006 12:42 (nineteen years ago)

So all those - except the trainset - are "real"? Right? I'm easily confused. But I'm not the only one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tylerknott/91572794/in/pool-59319377@N00/

I love them. I've got one of Tom Merilion's shots of Birmingham on my wall. Very similar type of thing.
http://www.belfastexposed.com/exhibitions/2001/exhimertom.html

― Ned T.RIfle II (Ned T.Rifle II), Monday, 13 March 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

These are very engaging in a vertigo kind of way.

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 13 March 2006 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

burma

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 13 March 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

That too.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 13 March 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

this is pretty cool. i think selfridges and myanmar work really well upthread because the "in focus" band is either more like a circular spot (selfridges) or diffused by the dark shades of green (myanmar). the others, like dresden and all the ones linked to other sites all seem formulaic - once you've got it down it's a little annoying to be noticing that focus band.

― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 13 March 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

I had a go at making one...

http://static.flickr.com/39/111954868_71000f71b3.jpg?v=0

Almost works but the sky doesn't help and there are no strong shadows to give it that indoor lamp-lit look. The original is here.

― robster (robster), Monday, 13 March 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

Nice tho, rob.

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Monday, 13 March 2006 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

What city is that cool gingerbread church in?

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

I don't really understand what's happening, here, but rob's is the best on the thread

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

I like the Burma one as well. It really looks like you could pick that temple up between two fingers.

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

Wow.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

wait -- brian cassidy? where are you from?

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

I don't really understand what's happening, here

It's largely a psychological trick caused by the narrow depth of field.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

far out

― kingfish da notorious teletabby (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

oh man, i can't wait to get home and try this.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 13 March 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

I wonder if this the same thing that happens in your brain when you dreamily zone out whilst looking at something and suddenly everything around you looks fake? I haven't actually done this for years but when it used to happen in the past I wished I could prolong the effect (as soon as you're aware of it, it's gone).

Rob's is great - the texture of the building is very model-like, though the people are still a bit real. My Photoshop competency is around the level of being able to resize things and tweak lighting, so I'm some way off doing this...

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 13 March 2006 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

I'm pretty sure that "gingerbread church" is of Gaudi's buildings in the Parc Guell in Barcelona.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 13 March 2006 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

it certainly is! i think these are fun, i dont understand how the swiss train set trees really do look like little plastic trees - i understand the out of focus bits achieve this effect in the background but those are in the foreground

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 13 March 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

wait -- brian cassidy? where are you from?
-- RoxyMuzak© (emilysu...), March 13th, 2006.
---
Yes! Cleveland. Do I know you? (My e-mail is real.)

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Monday, 13 March 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

i dont understand how the swiss train set trees really do look like little plastic trees

Um, the swiss train really *is* a model.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

Had a quick go:
http://tom.ledger.name/img/syop.jpg

eh, s'ok. I think the key is getting a realistic and convincing blur mask, not just slapping a gradient fill over any old how.

― ledge (ledge), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

the swiss trainset one is actually fake, is how

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

This is my attempt, from the blog a few weeks ago:

http://www.symbolicforest.com/img/onblog/beach-model.jpg

I think the key is getting a realistic and convincing blur mask, not just slapping a gradient fill over any old how.

Yup. I deliberately picked a photo that it would be easy to do that to.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

very subtle forest pines!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

that is very nice

― red flag over st pancras (gareth), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

Grass looks so fake when using this technique. Look here and here...

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 13 March 2006 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

why does the title of this thread refer to the one photo NOT done with this method?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 13 March 2006 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

It's just like ZZ Top, man. It's a trick so you only need to remember one thing: the train thing is fake, the guy without the beard is called Beard.

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 13 March 2006 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

(Does anyone else keep misreading this thread title as "fake tit-shifting photos"?)

― Dan (I Need Glasses) Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 13 March 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I do now. Thanks!

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 13 March 2006 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh, it's the new 'Holga.' If at first you don't succeed, make it look wacky.

This was interesting the first time I saw it. Less interesting the first time every art student with a view camera tried it. Really boring now that people have figured out how to approximate the look with Photoshop.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 13 March 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

That sounded way more bitter than it needed to. I just don't think this is a particularly interesting development in photography memes.

For maximum effect, very difficult to duplicate in PS I would guess, combine front tilt with rear tilt, which narrows the plane of focus further and changes the apparent size of things in the foreground (or background, depending on which way you tilt).

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 13 March 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

The video he did of Rome is absolutely beautiful, we saw it at the travel thing at the Hayward, had me foxed for ages.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Monday, 13 March 2006 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

I tried a couple.
It's fun to do, even though I really don't have good source photos for the exercise and I use the gimp instead of PS. These were OK:

http://static.flickr.com/50/112356872_c0646830be.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/48/112357148_e7bfe64d27.jpg

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 09:28 (nineteen years ago)

Your top one indicates why you need to do a proper mask instead of just applying a gradient blur. The top of the mid-ground tree should be in focus the same as the bottom.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 09:40 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks FP, I will try that.

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 09:45 (nineteen years ago)

Well, haven't tried it yet, but still am having fun with others' pics:

http://static.flickr.com/53/114008488_0e39aa44b4.jpg

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Saturday, 18 March 2006 08:37 (nineteen years ago)

four months pass...

new Thom Yorke video for harrowdown hill uses the above technique. looks quite realisitic (ie fake) until you realise that all the little people are moving and carrying protest banners.

― Koogy Yonderboy (koogs), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 09:48 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, not a v good vid

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

When a meme becomes a television advert (for Expedia) it's all over.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 10:02 (nineteen years ago)

> yeah, not a v good vid

funny, i thought it was (in parts. the animating of the eagle i didn't like) but the Barbieri technique bits were fascinating especially when you realised it was video and not stills. (it would also be a bit of a coup should it chart highly given the subject matter of both the video and the single. when was the last overtly anti-government record a big hit?)

― Koogy Yonderboy (koogs), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 10:08 (nineteen years ago)

i thought the vid was good. i liked the animated eagle part as well as the fake-tit-shifting parts but there were loads of other parts too and, ultimately, just too many ideas and it made the song seem like it went on for ever.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 11:25 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=109708101&size=o

― -- (688), Tuesday, 22 August 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

ihttp://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=192733449&size=o

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 22 August 2006 09:13 (nineteen years ago)

Hey this is pretty easy... blur and contrast!
Here's my quick attempt:
http://static.flickr.com/78/222306458_fca76931a5.jpg?v=0

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 22 August 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

Before:
http://static.flickr.com/46/137730828_71fac39af0.jpg?v=0

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 22 August 2006 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

I posted these on the sandbox during the week when I kept on timing out trying to get on here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/dambullah.jpg

Mini Giant Buddha in Mini Sri Lanka

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/cricketmatch.jpg

Mini West Indies vs Mini South Africa

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/jaipur.jpg

Mini Indians in Mini Jaipur

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/palace.jpg

Mini Water Palace in Mini Jaipur

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/petra.jpg

Mini Petra

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Monday, 28 August 2006 10:21 (nineteen years ago)

The first one works best, I think.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 28 August 2006 10:26 (nineteen years ago)

Great to see water around the water palace. When I was there a couple of years ago they were still suffering from drought and in the middle of a dry puddle.

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Monday, 28 August 2006 10:33 (nineteen years ago)

this is fucking BRILLIANT (as said by the guy in the Fast Show).

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Monday, 28 August 2006 12:06 (nineteen years ago)

The cricket looks so videogame!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 28 August 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

My other attempt:
http://static.flickr.com/76/222910012_7fa683f198.jpg?v=0

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

http://vimeo.com/1785993?pg=embed&sec=1785993

― Alba, Friday, 10 October 2008 22:25 (seventeen years ago)

This is too much fun. Oh great, just what I needed, a new way to avoid working.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/2929700567_a3a1d4675e_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/2929700569_5d0fd6be33_o.jpg

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 00:17 (seventeen years ago)

Couple more:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3247/2929700573_73473594bf_o.jpg

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 00:18 (seventeen years ago)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2929700577_b42b5f671d_o.jpg

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 00:19 (seventeen years ago)

uh, sorry, I redid all of those because they didn't look artificial enough. Lemme try again. The saturation and contrast are key.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2930932472_bd6bb940b5.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2930932476_afb7b36f15.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/2930081519_af0f223c42.jpg

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 06:05 (seventeen years ago)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2930954804_0fd50584da.jpg?v=0

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 06:16 (seventeen years ago)

second and third ones are the best. the last one isn't quite right; why would hte top of that building be out of focus but not the bottom (the black skyscraper on the left there)

― s1ocki, Saturday, 11 October 2008 06:34 (seventeen years ago)

also in the second-last picture, the building on the right and in the foreground should be all soft, not just the bottom. the building behind it should be all sharp.

― s1ocki, Saturday, 11 October 2008 06:35 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, I agree. That last one is a beast, and I don't think I can ever make that quite work. And good tips on that third one -- I think I'm getting the saturation and contrast ok, but to really do it right, I'm gonna have to cut and layer and mask a bit more. But anyway, yeah. Those are my first efforts.

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 08:02 (seventeen years ago)

That first one would be good except for the damn Water Tower building in the right corner, because the picture has a good amount of simple elements the miniaturize nicely -- trees, parks, water. I think the second one is the best, because it gets the focus-to-detail ratio right. But if that's a model, who would build such a model? That is some crazy model. Was it painted with, like, a plucked eyelash? Call Guinness. Same goes for the third pic.

The last one can't be done. I give up on it.

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 08:16 (seventeen years ago)

Also the last one has no strong shadows a a good bit of haze. You don't tend to get haze in lamp-lit closeups. Fixing that would be much harder than taking a better picture.

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 08:19 (seventeen years ago)

the trick is isolating a plane in the middle distance that can be sharp, right? the last one just doesn't really have enough strong features along that plane.

― s1ocki, Saturday, 11 October 2008 13:19 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, there is no middle distance in that last one... the trick seems to be having a photo with a depth of field that is totally flat but has a lot of stuff going on in it, so something vast and far away works best, then applying that gradiated blur where it doesn't belong, so it looks like it was taken from four inches away at f/1.4. Jacking up the contrast and dimming it overall add to that, I'm finding out, and oversaturating it makes it look painted.

I'm still just adding a single mask to the picture, a linear one... wonder what happens with a radial gradient, or a couple-three masks to better blur out the edges.

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 13:42 (seventeen years ago)

Whew, I shouldn't state the obvious so stringently all at once. Gotta space that out. My obvious is gonna be sore tomorrow.

― crusty but benign (kenan), Saturday, 11 October 2008 13:55 (seventeen years ago)

three months pass...

bizarre but interesting usage:

http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/14/cjtfhoa.jpg

look at the little army men!

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 21:50 (seventeen years ago)

this technique has become second only to HDR in terms of overpopularity, aesthetic misuse, and poor execution.

― Tina Fey's narrative bonsai (I DIED), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 22:58 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah one of my friends has just started doing it (she does a reasonable job of it mind), and she was taken aback/suprised at the popularity on flickr. I was thinking "where have you been?".

― Trayce, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 23:27 (seventeen years ago)

Ah, people are having a laugh with it, whatevs.

― chap, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 23:28 (seventeen years ago)

Oh I like it! I'm just suprised how popular its become yeah.

― Trayce, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 23:55 (seventeen years ago)

More directed at I DIED's diatribe, sorry Trayce. Sure there are plenty of shit examples, but no one's claiming it's great art at this point.

― chap, Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

yeah I bet Olivio Barbieri feels great about that.

― Tina Fey's narrative bonsai (I DIED), Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:20 (seventeen years ago)

His original achievement isn't diminished. Didn't mean to be arsey, just don't reckon people fucking about with a cool effect for fun is particularly worthy of venom.

― chap, Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:49 (seventeen years ago)

of course it is, this is ILX. also, dance music has sucked since 1998.

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:50 (seventeen years ago)

Hasn't been as good since '94 actually ARE YOU FUCKIN STARTING?

― chap, Thursday, 15 January 2009 01:00 (seventeen years ago)

there wasn't any major update of Cubase in 1994, you're just making stuff up.

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 15 January 2009 01:23 (seventeen years ago)

I like the technique, I'm just against it being used so badly most of the time.

― Tina Fey's narrative bonsai (I DIED), Thursday, 15 January 2009 01:54 (seventeen years ago)

fake t/s = man-step; real t/s = mas macho

― Every Day Jimmy Mod Is Hustlin' (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 15 January 2009 03:04 (seventeen years ago)

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