Tilt-shift is a powerful photographic technique used most often to make large objects appear miniature in size. The best tilt-shift photography can be achieved using expensive lenses, like the Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8, which costs over $1,000, but there are cheaper alternatives for the more needy photographer. It’s possible to produce a tilt-shift ‘fake’ by blurring the outside of an image in Photoshop and increasing contrast and saturation. Online tools like imimux and freeware like GIMP can be used to much the same effect.
Sadly, with so many photographers competing to make their images the tiniest, few are looking beyond their preoccupation with miniaturisation to explore the other benefits of tilt-shift. Don’t get me wrong, tilt-shift miniatures are amazing, and I’ve included some brilliant examples below, but the technique is capable of so much more.
Black and white tilt-shift images, which are surprisingly uncommon, have a classic, vintage quality that can be truly stunning. You’ll find 30 of the best below!
Urban Landscapes
Tilt-shift photography is perfectly suited to capturing urban landscapes. Huge skyscrapers can be dwarfed to more manageable sizes and extra definition can be given to buildings that might otherwise be lost within vast cityscapes. The following photos have been captured around the world, from Hong Kong to Paris.
1. Paris
Image: monsieurlam
2. Chicago
Image: Christian & Cie
3. Shanghai
Image: Creeper-Sleeper
4. Hong Kong
Image: wenzday01
5. Chicago
Image: smaedli
6. Saigon
Image: Un rosarino en Vietnam
7. Market
Image: nrtphotos
8. Knoxville
Image: Chuck Johnson
Vehicles
Men love tiny vehicles - in fact, many never really grow out of Scalextric, Hornby trains, Micro Machines and Hot Wheels. This goes some way towards explaining the wealth of tilt-shift photos of vehicles out there. Some of the most interesting have been included below.
9. Sea Plane
Image: baldheretic
10. Digger
Image: nrtphotos
11. Car Park
Image: nrtphotos
12. Airport Monorail
Image: Click.Develop.Repeat Photography
13. Toy Truck
Image: Lawrence Whittemore
14. Train
Image: nono fara
15. Beach Life
Image: nrtphotos
Roads
The following batch of images clearly demonstrates the versatility of the tilt-shift method. While ‘610 @ Post Oak 1’ is a classic miniature, ‘Snowy Road’ looks like an image from a bygone era while ‘On The Move’ has a real cinematic flair.
16. Snowy Road
Image: nrtphotos
17. Snowy Road
Image: nrtphotos
18. Woodland Road
Image: nrtphotos
19. Manhattan Street
Image: joaquimb
20. 610 @ Post Oak 1
Image: baldheretic
Rural Landscape
Tilt-shift photography is dominated by images of urbanity, so it’s great to see some rural scenes too. ‘Greek Coastline’, below, is a particularly effective miniature and ‘Shifting Storm’ really captures the power of a dark, tumultuous sky.
21. Country Path
Image: nrtphotos
22. Shifting Storm
Image: stumayhew
23. Fence
Image: nrtphotos
24. Heritage Acres
Image: nrtphotos
25. Greek Coastline
Image: mtoynbee
26. Graveyard
Image: spondle
Nature
Making images of nature appear miniature can be difficult. Without a building or vehicle in shot, it’s hard for the viewer to get a sense of scale. For this reason, very few people use the tilt-shift method when photographing the natural world, which is a shame, considering how successful these images are, whether they look miniature or not.
27. Bedrock
Image: BAlvarius
28. Playas Valley, New Mexico
Image: BAlvarius
29. Free Flying
Image: Jesse Kruger
30. Flower
Image: Jim Blob Blann