“Tilt-shift photography” refers to the use of camera movements on small- and medium-format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to the use of tilt for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene.

Miniature faking is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is made to look like a photograph of a miniature scale model. Blurring parts of the photo simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered in close-up photography, making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is; the blurring can be done either optically when the photograph is taken, or by digital postprocessing. Many faked-miniature photographs are taken from a high angle to simulate the effect of looking down on a miniature.

From Wikipedia

I have seen this sort of thing before but I must say this post was a little inspried by Matthew Bridge-Wilkinson’s photoshop tutorial for this technique on his blog www.cenobite.co.uk.

I have also  come across a great Flickr group Tiltshiftmaker that’s worth a look.

My first attempt used a shot I took from my window which you can have a look at the 365 Project. I wasn’t overly happy with the result so I started having a play around with some older photos…….. and here are the results….

Aerial view of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Aerial view of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Costa Maya, Mexico

Monte Carlo

Glaciers, Juneau Alaska

Pago Pago, American Samoa