Remember Josh Sommers? We had a coverage of his work back in May. Well, this time Josh photographed some real-life objects, using his special techniques which resulted some very interesting photographs. Inside this article you may find dozen of photographs that give you impression you are seeing scaled, miniature models. Well, all the vehicles, buildings and objects are in fact real, and used in our everyday life. We had this kind of illusions created by other photographers before, but we also had an inverted approach to this. There you normally thought you are seeing real-life nature, while in fact you were seeing miniature models instead. Which of these two approaches results in better optical illusions? I would like to know what you think about it. Comment now!
i like the bench one the best–it looks like its really small!
im sure this affect has something to do with the fuzzyness of the backgrounds and the angle by which they are taken
third!…=) the pictures are cool
idk what it is… but there is just a feeling you get that makes you think its a minature.
thats what makes cinematography so difficult… especially for old school movies like star wars… now adays we can splash so many computer graphics that it looks too good… that bothers me more i think
Those are amazing! It’s the warp and blurriness at the edges, but that’s still an amazing technique.
You don’t know where these were taken, do you? Those city-scape ones look painfully familiar to me, but I just can’t place them.
5th ;) I am usually like 189th lolz.
This is cool.It makes it seem eyrie..
i like the 4,5,6 pics because they look real i think i prefer ones that look big, but are actaul miniatures it makes it more amazing that we didn’t spot the plasticniess… if u get wot i mean.
I think these are all really amazing. The school and the tractor are really well done.
AMAZING!!
I love all the illusions on this site!
The vehicle ones give the impression or CG, rather than scale models. Good illusion though, not so well done on the bottom one…
The bench is the best. Even the grass looks fake.THe bench just looks too short for people,the bck thing dose and it looks too clean and shiny.
ditto with the bench thing
They look like minatures because the pictures are really small! :D
HDR pictures combined with a fuzzyness on the background and foreground to simulate a macro-shot.
The bench is good but the other ones are not especially good job, i have seen better.
I think he should of left the sky out in some of the pictures. kinda ruins the illusion
the church looks so good I like this
those are cool
W0W the last one looks computer generated
nice
loving the last picture!
The first two and the last one are really convincing.
It’s strange, though, the way your mind immediately leaps to the conclusion that these are miniatures. I guess beause the background isn’t as detailed as would be in a normal photograph.
I like these because they go against my expectations.
BTW, is there a particular reason why you need to moderate peoples’ comments? I sometimes decide not to comment because I can’t be stuffed going through the comment mod rigmarole. I thought the idea was that you WANT people to comment…? Also, if someone comments late in the game, their comment doesn’t get seen or commented on. It all seems a little controlling and anti-blogging to me. How do others feel about this?
these are cool
i like the ones of town places best
it definitely has to do with the fuzzyness of the background so it tricks your eye into thinking you must be really close to it and everthing else is really far away
(fifth comment!)
Find out why it works as an illusion and how to do it with Photoshop. Just google “miniature photoshop” I have been using this as an assignment for my students for years and they blow this stuff away. It’s all about the photo and the angle of the blur…..give it try. It really easy and amazing.
The camera has to be looking down on the scene for this to work for me, and sometimes not then. the first two are the only ones which look much like miniatures to me.
Miniature Photography uses a very narrow depth of field (the range in which things are in focus). Blurring the foreground and background mimic this type of photography.
i like the tractor one. very clever photography.
i like picture number 6 and 8.
its very goof photography.
Trims.
Using Lens Baby? Tilt/shift?
This is some great tilt-shift photography. It blows my mind every time I see it. And -Screaming Doubles- I totally agree with you on the movie thing.
Its the extremely selective focus he used to take the photograph, He probably used a lenzbaby lenz, you can see in some of the pictures the area in focus is a diagonal line instead of just a blurry backgroun/ foreground
Very cool illusion
You can make your own at tiltshiftmaker.com or buy a Tilt-Shift lense.
Numbers 3, 5, 7, 8 are the best. The other i think you can tell they are miniatures.
Just wanted to tell you all that this teqnique is called “tilt shifting”. If you do some searching on google or flickr or whatever you will get a lot of examples which are much nicer than these.
Got photoshop? You can do it too! :P
http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
bench is best =)
i think that it’s all about the angle, fuzziness, colors (they look like fresh and just painted, strong) and background objects
He must have gotten up on a hill or some other high place to get these angles.
it’s called tilt-shift lens, that produces this kind of effect. you can get them for your SLR.
very non-CG for a change, and a cool illusion indeed.
love your site, keep on posting!
A japanese photoblog with some interesting images that give you the same imprssion.
http://photolog.blog.so-net.ne.jp/
I like the bench one best!! But I think that the miniatures that look real are my favorite!
I really like these!
And I found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_miniature_faking
there is something about the colors of the objects in focus that make you feel like… this is not real… nothing in life is really that full of color… I love the pictures and I think it is really neat how it is done… ROCK ON!
The pictures are really cool…the cars make it so.
Umm wrong! The bench is definitely the best
To the person wondering where they are taken, it’s Petaluma, California. I live there, and didn’t notice until the fifth one. Truly a neat effect.
THIS IS JUST A RANDOM REPRODUCTION (USING "FAKE" PHOTOSHOP TOUCHUP) OF A FAMOUS JAPANESE ARTIST & PHOTOGRAPHER TECHNIQUE (HE USES REAL PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES TO CAPTURE REAL-LIFE PICS AS IT IS) – HIS NAME IS "NAOKI HONJO" & HE PUBLISHED A BOOK ENTITLED "SMALL PLANET".
PLEASE GOOGLE “NAOKI HONJO” FOR MORE ORIGINAL INFO.
SHOULD GIVE THE RIGHTFUL ORIGINATOR THE RIGHT CREDIT!
These are really awesome!! how did he do this??? i suppose its the blurred edges :-)
This guy should do the bumps for adult swim. If he aleady isnt. :p
wow!!!
this is my favorite illusion on the whole site
If you sorta squint your eyes outside when in a car or something, you can make anything look like this, especially the bench one, its so awesome
These pictures are a great example of what different lenses can do. its a great skill. ive seen a picture of a city using this method and it look amazing. not photoshop at all for anyone that thinks it is. just cause someone takes an amazing picture doesnt mean its photoshop…. losers
what do you know bout photographs..huh??
this is really nice hoax!!!
this pixxz look so efin fake. wahtch use toy buildings and toy cars. except 4 the water foutain it looks real.
omg thts so cool. my older sister bought this camera last year, and she took a picture of my cousin, jumping to the side, and you could see RIGHT THROUGH HER!
The mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work unless it’s open. Or numb after 16 cold beers.
These are NOT fake. Check out Tilt-shift photography if you do not believe.
i LOVE these illusions cuz i wish i cud get small and live in a little univurse. ima try make an illusion like this ov mi own.
They’re all false images; they aren’t true
fine
the cars look so… Real