Photo of the day – Tilt-shift Barcelona

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Suddenly, we’re seeing tilt-shift images all over the place, in both still photography and video. Tilt-shift photography creates a mesmerizing shrinking effect. Above, this technique turns Barcelona’s Passeg de Gracia into a delightful miniature netherworld of toy trees, passengers, and vehicles. Thanks to reliable Gadling group pool contributor Gus NYC for today’s Photo of the Day contribution.

Have a tilt-shift image in your archives that deserves to be seen by a wider audience? Submit it to the Gadling group pool on Flickr. We might just select it to be a future Photo of the Day.

Miniature Thailand – tilt-shift video

by Justin Delaney on


Bustling Bangkok never looked so tiny and cute. Tilt-shift video makes everything look like a miniature play set, and this video of various Thailand locales employs the technique perfectly. The Chao Phraya river that runs through Bangkok looks like a tiny stream in some sort of elaborate diorama, and people taking to the sea in the Phi Phi Islands near Phuket look like small articulated action figures. The effect is both interesting and surreal. Be sure to check out Gadling’s guide on the similar tilt-shift photography technique. “Toy Thailand” was shot in Bangkok, Phuket, Ton Sai, and Railay in Krabi.

Toy Thailand from joerg daiber on Vimeo.

Miniature Manchester Airport — in real life

by Grant Martin on

Tilt-shift is a technology that’s been around for the last few years, but it’s just now being applied to the video world, and the results are pretty wild. The below video was shot overlooking Manchester Airport in England, and using the blurred effects of tilt-shift it looks like everyone working at the airport is a small doll moving around a series of toy planes.

If you’re interested in trying out the technology on your own time, Gadling has a few suggestions to save you some time.

Video of the week (3.20.10)

by Kent Wien on

This week’s video of the week, called Sandpit, is from Sam O’Hare who wanted to use a tilt-shift lens to turn a New York City scene into something that looks like a tiny model. But he discovered he could improve the look and feel by shooting the video with a normal lens and then blur the background and foreground after it was produced.

Tilt-shift videos of cites are nothing new, but Sam took it to a new level.

Sam explained the process of making Sandpit in an interesting interview by Aero Film if you need to know how it was created.

The effects are amazing. Coupled with the music from Human, you may find yourself hypnotized in no time.

Do you have a great travel related suggestion for our Video of the Week? Fill out this form or just include my twitter handle @veryjr in your tweet about it. Maybe we’ll use it as next week’s Video.

Photo of the Day (3.9.10)

by Stephen Greenwood on
Take a closer look. Go on – click the image! Is it a miniature train set? Photoshop trickery? Not quite. Today’s Photo of the Day is from Flickr user dileeps, who managed to take this shot of Sienna using a tilt-shift lens.

Tilt-shift lenses have the ability to tilt the plane of focus and shift the camera’s line of sight, which can be used to produce the “miniature faking” effect seen above. Sometimes referred to as “smallgantics“, it’s a trend that’s becoming more widespread with the aid of digital processing – so if you see something that looks too small and detailed to be true, you now know what the explanation is.

If you have some tricks up your photo processing sleeves, we want to see them! Submit your photo to Gadling’s Flickr Pool and it could be featured as our Photo of the Day!