A Miniature New York

Video: A Miniature New York – Gothamist. This was sent to me from LSU MLA 2010 student Tom Grubbs.

image from The Gothamist

This is a great example of how framing can change the perception of scale in representation. By manipulating the the focus plane Sam O’Hare created “The Sandpit,” a time lapse film that makes shots of New York appear as a model. The technique is tilt-shift photography, and typically uses image editing software to change or minimize the area of focus on an image.

Tilt-Shift miniature faking is a creative technique whereby a photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated to give an optical illusion of a photograph of a miniature scale model.

Altering the focus of the photography in Photoshop (or similar program) simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered with macro lenses making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is.

In addition to focus manipulation, the tilt-shift photography effect is improved by increasing color saturation and contrast, to simulate the bright paint often found on scale models.

Most faked tilt-shift photographs are taken from a high angle to further simulate the effect of looking down on a miniature. The technique is particularly effective on buildings, cars, trains and people.

Tilt-Shift photography is all about changing the angle of the camera to give a different perspective and to make something look bigger or smaller. -from http://www.tiltshiftphotography.net/

An interview and more information about the shots and film are at Aero Film.

The Sandpit from Sam O’Hare on Vimeo.

Tilt-Shift Specific Equipment on Amazon



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