The tilt-shift effect is typically achieved using a special (and very expensive) tilt-shift lens. In this case, however, you can learn how to create the effect through good ol’ Photoshop. It’s a very quick effect to make, and thus, the tutorial is short but thorough. What this does is make what was photographed look like a miniature model. I haven’t had the chance to take a good elevated-viewpoint photo to try this on, but I was too impatient so I used the best photo I could find in my existing repertoire.

Okay, okay–I know this is a stretch and thus a horrible example to show off this effect, but ah well! Don’t ever look at my examples, anyway. Usually, the actual examples from the tutorials are far better since I just make do with what I have.

After yesterday’s sprinkle, today’s Texas heat combined with the humidity made it especially unbearable to shoot outside, but I wanted to see if I could create the HDR look with photos of the backyard. Mine isn’t spectacular but it must have been because I shot a poor photo in the bright sunshine. Also, I couldn’t find my tripod, and my shaky hand definitely shows in the sky.

Show me you can do better than this. Please.

I used my own photo for this tutorial–something I just snapped up from earlier today specifically for this. This tutorial requires Photoshop, as most of the ones I’ll be doing will. If you don’t have Photoshop but want to try this, download the 30-day free trial. Anja does a pretty good job of explaining the steps; As long as you have very basic knowledge of navigating Photoshop, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem following along.

I’d love for y’all to share your results. :)