What is a tilt shift lens?

A tilt shift lens is exactly as it’s name says. It tilts and shifts to deform the focus which creates a blurry image. It is used to point out a object in the photo with focusing it and making it sharp or hiding unwanted objects by blurring the part of the image out of focus. It also has a effect that when taken from the above angle, everything looks miniature, small and unreal. It’s used mostly on dSLR’s. With the help of Photoshop and some effects we can manipulate the photo so it looks as it was taken with a tilt-shift lens. Let’s start.

Tilt shift effect Photoshop tutorial

So here’s the tilt shift effect. For this tutorial you will need:

• Adobe Photoshop
• a image that is shot from above down on people/trees/cars etc.
• some time

First open your image in Photoshop. For this tilt shift tutorial i will be using the daily free one from IStockPhoto.com. Go there and download the big version of the image for free.

Here is what it look like:

Now you will nee to duplicate the image and hide the original bottom one. On the above layer, add a mask using the mask button in the layer window.

Select the Gradient tool and use these settings for it:

Now draw in the mask with the gradient tool so you get a similar look like the image below. The transparent part will be sharp after we finish, so have that in mind when you work on your own photos.

We will now apply a filter but first make sure you have the image selected in the layers window(a white square over the image, not the layer mask), then go to Filter -> Blur -> Lens blur…. This will bring up a filter interface.

Now i’ll explain the settings for this interface. For the tilt shift effect you need to select the Depth map source to Layer mask. You can play width the blur focal distance to get a different effect or just leave it at 0.

The iris is the shape of the aperture in the lens pf a dSLR photo camera. It’s usually the Hexagon so go with this option and play with other settings until you find something you like.

Specular highlights are the hexagon dots the iris makes when the image is blurred. Pretty nice effect that really simulates the real camera lens. The brightness should be low and the threshold should be really high. This settings depend on the image you apply this effect to so start experimenting at threshold 250 and lowering it and brightness 0 and going up. Don’t overdue it though, keep it clean.

Noise is the setting you usually don’t want, it simulates errors that are made when using high ISO setting on a digital photo camera, use 0 here.

That’s it, hit OK and see what you get. Also delete or hide the Mask of the image layer. This is what it should look like.

And these are the buildings at 100%. They already look like they were made of cardboard and painted. But the next step will make that feel even better, we’re going to adjust the colors.

We will use 3 adjustment layers. The first one is Hue/Saturation. Bring up the Saturation, but not too much, around 20-30 is usually ok.

The next one is Levels. This helps bring the picture a better exposure etc. Use the lover triangles to define the histogram like below:

The last one is Curves which will bring up the contrast more. Make the S line like the image shows.

Try not to overdue everything and keep it balanced. Now we’re done! Here are the final images, the original one, the one with til-shift effect and the one with the tilt-shift and adjustments layers.

As you may notice, this effect is best when you have buildings etc. so crop the image there for best results.

Now start enjoying the little things in life and don’t forget to subscribe to my rss feed! ^^

Things you need:

• Photoshop ;D
• Picture of a bottle or product – click here to download sample one
• Picture of a water splat, click here to download a free HQ one that also has transparency.

First open your picture of the product, i’ll be using a Finlandia bottle since i’m a fan of it’s design and quality. If you’re a fan of photography, you make make such photos in a 5€ macro studio. Also import the transaprent water photo (download it here). Duplicate it and hide the bottom one so you keep a clean original layer for later use. Set the other ones blending to “Screen”.

After that “scale down” and “position” the water layer to the product like the first picture shows below. The second picture is a zoom view. I have used the “Rectangular marquee tool” and used it on the “water layer!” but the width and the height is applied to the bottle since this is going to be blurry because i want the water splat too be behind the bottle. Use the “Layer via cut” option when right clicking.

On the new made layer, change the blending again to “Screen” and then go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussion blur and blur the image. I have used the setting of around 3px. Clean the image a bit so it really does look like it is behind the bottle.

On the same layer, add mask to it and use the “Gradient tool” from left to right to make the ilussion perfect. Right click on the layer and use the “Free transforma”. Again right-click and choose “Warp”. Do a similar warp transofmation like the second picture below, apply when done. This will give the layer the look like viewing something through the bottle.

Duplicate the hidden water layer and make it visible, rotate it and scale it down like the first picture below and place it in the right position like the second picture shows. Try to really use the water and blend it with the object/product you are working on. Try to experiment with different shapes. Use a soft eraser and erase the left part that is too big.

The next step will be to delete the bottom right part of the bottle and break it’s shape. There is now a line that needs to be deleted (the first picture below). Mak a new layer and use a “white soft brush” and make the hole in the bottle like the second picture shows. After that, just hit “CTRL+I” to invert it to black. You can skip the white brush step though, i just did it like this to show you where i used the brush since you can’t see it in detail when you use black color on black.

The next step will be adding more water so again duplicate the original hidden water layer and use the “Eraser” to delete the unneeded parts like the second picture shows. I hided the other layers to easily see the whole water layer.

Make the other layers visible again (first picture). Duplicate it 3 times and make it a half circle that will fit the half-circeled lower part of the bottle. After that you will need to clean it. Use the eraser for that on the lover layers.

And you’re done. Play with it and use your own creativity to make it eben better. Here’s the final image:

How do you like my fanart? I hope you enjoy the tutorial.

Before i start, you may also want to see the last two tutorials i made, one is how to make Neon Lights with your digital camera, and the second is how to make a Wallpaper with this neon light.

The most important thing is to have a good picture to start your creativity running. I will be using a free one from iStockPhoto.com. All of the great talents use images from this service, you can even sell your own there. Take some time and check out their database of images that will really help you to make the best out of your ideas… There are even some free weekly images and i used one of those.

This is the image i’m gonna start with.

Work with it and add elements you like, apply your own personal style to make it nice. I will use my own skills ideas and inspiration for this. Try not to copy it step by step, work on your own idea and see how it work out for you, this way you will learn more than i can teach you with this tutorial. You can also put work when it’s finished in the comments, i’d love to see it.

I’ve added a hoolander under the lens of the camera. The color is #FDBA63. Different colors make different results so you should play with it. I used this one since it felt good. On the right you see how it looks like when you set the layer blending to “color dodge”.

Now duplicate the layer and use this or similar settings for the glow. Again, settings defer from resolution etc. First set the FILL OPACITY to 0%FIL. Then apply this Outer glow settings

When applied here is the result at 100% zoom/crop.

I’ve added a circle where the lens is and applied glow to it. It now looks like the magic is coming from it.

Now for the next step we’ll be using a nice brush setup. Since a tutorial for it would be a bit time consuming i’ve saved it for you so you can download it. Here is the preview and you can click here to download my brush #001.

I started drawing with it from the lens glow outside, and applied these settings for the glow effect. I choose the color white for the brush.

I really like this effect now, it looks like the girls is having a magical camera

Feel free to add more colors to it, just make a new layer, choose your new color and start drawing. Get crazy with it if you want!

You can also apply this effects to other elements like lines etc. What ever you want.

And here is my final result. Click it for full view.