Josh Photographs some False Miniatures

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!









60 Replies to “Josh Photographs some False Miniatures”

  1. im sure this affect has something to do with the fuzzyness of the backgrounds and the angle by which they are taken

  2. 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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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!

  6. The vehicle ones give the impression or CG, rather than scale models. Good illusion though, not so well done on the bottom one…

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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?

  11. 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!)

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. 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

  17. 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.

  18. 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

  19. 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!

  20. 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!

  21. 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.

  22. 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!

  23. 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

  24. 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

  25. this pixxz look so efin fake. wahtch use toy buildings and toy cars. except 4 the water foutain it looks real.

  26. 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!

  27. 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.

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