Photoshop Tilt-Shift Tutorial

A while ago (ok, a year ago), I posted a photo and mentioned that I did some post work to make it look tilt-shifty.

Well, today I'm going to show you how to get a mock tilt-shift look with photoshop.

Here we go:

I started with this image that I took in NY this past March.
 I liked the image, but wanted to give it a little something.  MOCK TILT-SHIFT TIME!  So in Lightroom I cropped the image to 8x10, converted it to B&W, added a vignette, and burned a little at the top of the image to get this:


Now I'll show you the steps I took to add the tilt-shift look.

Then you turn out with this:

(note: This image above was edited separately from the images I posted at the top...so there may be variations in the contrast of the images)

Pretty fun right?  Go try it out!  But remember, this is to help enhance a photo, not to showcase the tilt-shift look.  Don't add the tilt-shift look to a blah photo because then it's a blah photo with a tilt-shift look.  Gimmicky!  But still...have some fun.

Comment with any questions.  But for your viewing pleasure, here are a few other images I added a tilt-shift look to:

Fine Art Photo Exhibit

Everyone come check out the Fine Art Class Photo Exhibition!

6 YEARS LATER - Fine Art Photography
WHERE: BYU Harris Fine Art Center - 4th floor
WHEN: Dec 2- 13, 2011

For the last semester, I have been working on two photo projects for my fine art class.  This past Friday I hung 4 pieces from one of my projects called "A Mother's Choice".

Here is my artist statement that is hanging next to my images:

I sat on my couch with a screaming baby in my arms as tears of guilt rolled down my cheeks.  I couldn’t provide what my baby cried for; breast milk.   The guilt I felt as I fed my newborn a bottle of formula was inexplicable, but I never wanted to admit to anyone that I wasn't feeding her the best.

It wasn’t until I talked with other women who understood my situation that I realized I was giving my child the best I could offer at that time.  The guilt I felt stemmed directly from societal pressures to provide “the ideal” for my baby; natural birth, breast milk, my undivided time and attention, proper immunizations, and the list goes on.  Yet many mothers, whether by choice or circumstance, can’t provide the “ideal” and consequently experience unnecessary guilt.

This project is meant to show that mothers, whether they choose the ideal or the alternative, are beautiful women who should feel no guilt for how they decide to raise their children.  Each diptych of portraits shows a mother who provides the “ideal” and a mother who provides its alternative without indicating who provides which, thus forcing the viewer to see each mother as she is and not by how she chooses to raise her child.

 And here are two images that I didn't have room to hang on the wall, but are part of the series.

Above: Vaginal Delivery vs. Cesarean Section

Fertility Treatment vs. Natural Conception

Go check out the rest in real life, but if you can't I'll be posting them in the near future.