Eiffel Tilt-Shift II
This is a tilt-shift fake.
For those who are interested, here is the depth-map that I created and fed to the lens blur filter and here is a shot of the various layers of the mask before assigning gray-values..
There's also a version in my photostream with the focus set on the École Militaire made from the same depth-mask.
March 2008: A nice fella named Martin has made a comprehensive tutorial on how to achieve this effect
Comments and faves
pinboke_planet, Saskya, sediama (break), Luiz Felipe Castro, and 814 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Eden and Josh (61 months ago | reply)
This tilt-shift fake is excellent. To me it seems that they work best with lots of people/cars and familiar landmarks.
I'd like to hear how you did it exactly with the layer mask.
Any interest in explaining it in a tutorial such as
recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
Thanks
ArnarBi (61 months ago | reply)
Hi Eden and Josh,
Thank you for the complements!
The depth map is basically a channel mapping the distance to each pixel. A dark pixel means it close and a light pixel means it's far away. The lens blur filter uses such a map to create a semi-realistic DOF effect.
To create the depth map I looked at "planes" in the photo. I considered only three types of planes:
a. horizontal planes (such as the ground)
b. vertical planes parallel to the line-of-sight (such as the wall of the box-cut trees)
c. vertical planes perpendicular to the line-of-sight (such as the front of the buildings.
I began with the ground because it's the easiest and is used to determine the gray-values for all the others. For that I just created a simple black-to-white gradient running vertically from the bottom of the picture up to the horizon. You can't see the horizon, but one can guess roughly where it is.
Then I started creating the layers for the planes of type c. I started at the front of the photo. The main rule I used was to create a mask for "tall" objects - because tall objects are further away from their background than relatively "short" objects - such as people or cars.
I started with the light poles. I created one solid color layer for each of them and then masked out each pole. While masking I kept the layer a distinctive colour, red in the case of the light-poles, as can be seen here. I didn't worry about the gray-values until later.
I then worked my way backwards through the photo, creating a solid color layer and masking all the key "c-type planes" - first the horsemen statues, the riverbank (purple), the big tree on the right, the tower itself, front-side walls of the box-shaped trees, the background trees, the École Militaire building, the background buildings and finally the high-rise in the back.
The tower itself is actually two different masks, one for the front-side facing towards the photographer and one for the rest. In the masking pic they're light-turquoise and dark-turquoise, respectively.
I then created one gradient for each of the sides of the box-shaped trees facing inwards to the field. The starting and ending gray-values of the gradient I determined by measuring from the previously created ground layer, measuring first at the base (important) of the front-most tree and then at the base of the tree furthest away. Now, when drawing this gradient one has to draw a horizontal line, to make the gradient stay vertical (it's less correct if the gradient is at an angle).
I used the same start and stop values for a gradient for the top of the trees, this time drawing vertically to get a horizontal gradient.
As the last step of creating the depth-map, I went through all the solid-colour layers I created earlier and assigned correct gray values. The way to determine a gray value for an object is to measure the ground gradient at the base of the object, since that determines the distance to the object.
Then I just copied a merge of all those layers to a new channel and applied the lens blur filter, pointing it to that channel. In the lens blur filter there's a slider to determine what gray values should be "in focus" - or you can just click on the preview picture to make that point be in focus.
The lens-blur filter doesn't handle the edges in the depth map very well, so afterwards, I had to use the blur tool and paint a little bit over the edges that didn't look right.
As a final touch I applied a little lighting effect filter to create an artificial look, and as an added bonus it made the center of the image look a bit overexposed as bright out-of-focus areas often are in macros.
I hope that's useful to someone :)
Edit:
Now, about making a proper tutorial with intermediate screenshots - I'd love to if I could muster the time someday, let's see if anybody else asks for it :)
Saskya (61 months ago | reply)
Oh yes I love this technique, yet I keep forgetting to play with it! This is fantastic!!
Eden and Josh (61 months ago | reply)
Thanks for explaining the technique. It's a lot more work setting the different DOF zones/planes but I like the result much better. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks.
sediama (break) (61 months ago | reply)
fave fave fave !!
Phil Walter (61 months ago | reply)
This is fantastic!
jimmyd8466 (61 months ago | reply)
This is really amazing! Well done!
_sarchi (61 months ago | reply)
with a tele looks good
--
http://flickr.trulyamazing.de/interesting/tod ay/ (?)
Willem_H (61 months ago | reply)
Incredible!!!~~
mliebenberg (61 months ago | reply)
Well done!
Daniel kool [deleted] (61 months ago | reply)
this shot is great it looks like a shoe box model
ida und bent (61 months ago | reply)
one of the best shifts i ever saw. fantastic.
.. got it from explore
vexed&confused (61 months ago | reply)
Your technique is one of the most sophisticated I've seen and it's certainly paid off here. I think you should be commended for sharing it too. Very well done!
cp_odd [deleted] (61 months ago | reply)
Wow- seriously cool shot. I think it's the detail in the tower that really makes it. It looks so clean and new and without depth- rather like it was cut from paper and assembled. Fantastic work!!!
Mabellevie (61 months ago | reply)
Intelligent work!
wcm777 (61 months ago | reply)
Instant fav! One for my collection. Love the techique applied - perfect!
Hot Oyster Photography (61 months ago | reply)
V. cool indeed
Red Giraffe (61 months ago | reply)
Great description of your treatment. More importantly a fab image. Well done :)
No veo nada (Coke) (61 months ago | reply)
te kedo fantastica...me encanto realmente...me la llevo
--
Seen in Views: 1000 (?)
nemoo (61 months ago | reply)
Wow, finally somebody on flickr who understands what faking dof is all about. Great stuff!
lumi ® (61 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called DreamWorld: Amazing photos inside, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Unplug (61 months ago | reply)
Wow!
Now this is something different from the Eiffel Tower....
--
Seen on your photo stream. (?)
broadcasterTR (58 months ago | reply)
Great.
James Christopher / www.ModernCitizen.com (58 months ago | reply)
Stunning. Wow.
John | Niklasson (56 months ago | reply)
This is Perfect!
This photo has been selected for www.flickr.com/groups/theperfectphotographers /
fotofreakske (56 months ago | reply)
Absolutely amazing
Absolutely The Perfect Photographer
You Deserve Another Perfect Photographer Award!!!
The Perfect Photographer(Invited Only) Awards 2 Fave 2
EMP Photography (56 months ago | reply)
Absolutely The Perfect Photographer
You Deserve Another Perfect Photographer Award!!!
The Perfect Photographer(Invited Only) Awards 2 Fave 2
Frédéric D :) (56 months ago | reply)
Fantastic and thank you for the time you spent on explanations, very interesting
Absolutely The Perfect Photographer
You Deserve Another Perfect Photographer Award!!!
The Perfect Photographer(Invited Only) Awards 2 Fave 2
Gustavo (lu7frb) (56 months ago | reply)
Absolutely The Perfect Photographer
You Deserve Another Perfect Photographer Award!!!
The Perfect Photographer(Invited Only) Awards 2 Fave 2
pondage (55 months ago | reply)
EXCELLENT!!! Ausgezeichnet!!! Excelente!!! Eccellente!!!
CONGRATULATIONS !!! >>> MADAME EIFFEL <<<
◄◄ ►► [deleted] (55 months ago | reply)
EXCELLENT!!! Ausgezeichnet!!! Excelente!!! Eccellente!!!
CONGRATULATIONS !!! >>> MADAME EIFFEL <<<
tomhensr (54 months ago | reply)
One of the best tilt shift shots I've seen. Well executed.
BOESCH (53 months ago | reply)
I've sent many to see this flawless masterpiece you created. Brilliantly executed.
ArnarBi (53 months ago | reply)
My ego thanks you for the great comments.
Lennard[DFPro] (53 months ago | reply)
Very cool!
This photo deserves a DIGIFOTO Pro Award, please join the group to compete for real prizes.
Melville B. (53 months ago | reply)
Excellent !
This photo deserves a DIGIFOTO Pro Award
JAVI TELECINE (52 months ago | reply)
Great shot
Mark (marbo) (52 months ago | reply)
One of the best tilt shifts i`ve ever seen. well done.
Zozman (47 months ago | reply)
Looking for examples of tilt shift, and this is one of the best I came across. Excellent work.
Jennifer Jackson .photography. (47 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Creative Photography Techniques & Gallery., and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Fotos by Bla (47 months ago | reply)
Well executed ! I wanna try it.
--
[discovered in the photophlow main room] (?)
eastmeetswest (46 months ago | reply)
what a perfect picture to use - thanks so much for sharing the technique!
thyngum (45 months ago | reply)
Breathless!! .. I'd love to be capable of doing something like that!
peter´s pics (44 months ago | reply)
great!!!!!!!!!
LuRoGo ® (43 months ago | reply)
what it´s your system????? I want to learn...thanks
jpg-ana (43 months ago | reply)
so great! fantastic shot!
ArnarBi (43 months ago | reply)
@lurogo Check out my comment early in this thread for a description of the process.
@all thanks a lot for the kind comments!
Lucy (嘉莉) (42 months ago | reply)
probably one of my favorite tilt-shifts ever... great job! you put so much hard work in this. unbelievable!
Francesca Diletta Sala #0 (42 months ago | reply)
Great This Shot i love this tecnique!
B.Khands (42 months ago | reply)
Brilliant!!!