Fake miniature model look

[MuskyDude]

I hope it hasn't already been posted, but Dani sent me this link (http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/) earlier this week and thought I'd share it with ya'll. Eh. Its an easy way in PS to give your photos that "minature model" look.


Here's a couple of shots I tried it with to give you an idea of what you can do. Dani's done a couple of real good ones too.



http://northlight.smugmug.com/photos/61998040-L.jpg


http://northlight.smugmug.com/photos/61998038-L.jpg

AJ

[DavidTO]

I forget where I got this link. Was it here? Dunno, but you may find it interesting:

http://legnangel.livejournal.com/564026.html

[DanielB]

I forget where I got this link. Was it here? Dunno, but you may find it interesting:

http://legnangel.livejournal.com/564026.html

David, that Kiwi one is really cool. lol

[gefillmore]

hey dude-

neat stuff-


davidto-

neat link-

george

[DoctorIt]

now that's something totally different! I dig it :D

[USAIR]

AJ I like it too very cool
Have to give it a try see how it works

Thanks
Fred

[Dani]

heres some I did using the method AJ linked to

its really quite fun to play with!

http://images17.fotki.com/v293/photos/7/70144/3387007/castlemini-vi.jpg

http://images3.fotki.com/v26/photos/7/70144/3387007/fallsmini-vi.jpg

http://images17.fotki.com/v294/photos/7/70144/3387007/leap-vi.jpg

http://images17.fotki.com/v297/photos/7/70144/3387007/okcmini-vi.jpg

http://images2.fotki.com/v292/photos/7/70144/3387007/pinkmini-vi.jpg

[USAIR]

Dani
:clap
They look great

Fred

[Bodwick]

Very nice effect.

I'm thinking I might give this a try after the next big re-enactment of the battle of Hastings. Every 5 years about 1000 foot + 200 horsemen go for a huge battle looked down on from the Abbey in Battle, East Sussex.


Thanks for posting.
:clap

[USAIR]

Not as good as Dani's and AJ's but it kinda has that smallville look to it

http://riverbend.smugmug.com/photos/62270216-L.jpg

Fred

[DavidTO]

Not as good as Dani's and AJ's but it kinda has that smallville look to it

Fred


Try pulling your blacks up 15 points, making the shadows darker.

[USAIR]

Try pulling your blacks up 15 points, making the shadows darker.

Better ?
I used curves adj layer...looked like it did help to me

http://riverbend.smugmug.com/photos/62366751-L.jpg

Thanks
Fred

[DavidTO]

Better ?
I used curves adj layer...looked like it did help to me



I think so...

[Ric Grupe]

I forget where I got this link. Was it here? Dunno, but you may find it interesting:

http://legnangel.livejournal.com/564026.html

Gee.....I never thought of mowing my coconut. :yikes :D

[JohnR]

How come when I get to the part of Lens Blur, nothing happens? I change around the settings like it says and zip..nothing changes. :scratch



Is this how it's supposed to look after the lens blur filter is applied?

http://www.orangeinsider.org///lensblur.jpg


If so...then something isn't right because it's not happening on mine.

[DavidTO]

Gee.....I never thought of mowing my coconut. :yikes :D


Yer kiwi.

[Ric Grupe]

Yer kiwi.

Yer kiwi........my coconut! :bad :lol4

[JohnR]

Nobody available to help me out here? :dunno

[DavidTO]

Nobody available to help me out here? :dunno


What, you're hoping someone will stay on topic? :D

I'll wait until someone who's actually *done* it shows up, they can speak with authority.

[USAIR]

How come when I get to the part of Lens Blur, nothing happens? I change around the settings like it says and zip..nothing changes. :scratch



Is this how it's supposed to look after the lens blur filter is applied?

http://www.orangeinsider.org///lensblur.jpg


If so...then something isn't right because it's not happening on mine.

Not sure I can help John
I don't know what I am going yet :D

Under gradient I used radial
Also make sure your out of quick mask when you apply lens blur
And lens blur takes a while on my computer

Your photo is kinda small for these eyes :dunno

Fred

[JohnR]

Sorry, that's not my photo..that's a screenshot from the tutorial.

I did everything it said. My brother was able to do it on his computer! But not me. :huh

Here's my brother's. Notice the settings:

http://www.orangeinsider.org///jerry.jpg



Now here's mine. Same settings.

http://www.orangeinsider.org///mine.jpg



Even just opening up a photo and doing Lens Blur does absolutely nothing to the photo. :scratch

[pathfinder]

You need to have a mask saved as an alpha channel and selected in the box labeled "Depth Mask" im the Lens Blur dialogue box you have displayed..

Without a depth mask, no lens blur occurs. P 380-381 Martin Evening's "Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers:

[JohnR]

So then why would my brother's example, with the same settings, be blurred and mine not?

I ended up trashing the prefs and now it works.

You need to have a mask saved as an alpha channel and selected in the box labeled "Depth Mask" im the Lens Blur dialogue box you have displayed..

Without a depth mask, no lens blur occurs. P 380-381 Martin Evening's "Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers:

[MuskyDude]

Nobody available to help me out here? :dunno

By all means I'm certainly no expert, but...

Are you switching out of quick mask mode (pressing Q) after you selected where you wanted your focus point to start (with gradiant tool)? It should look something like this:

http://northlight.smugmug.com/photos/62436396-L.jpg

Up until that point in the process, does your example look like the tutorials?

AJ

[JohnR]

By all means I'm certainly no expert, but...

Are you switching out of quick mask mode (pressing Q) after you selected where you wanted your focus point to start (with gradiant tool)? It should look something like this:



Up until that point in the process, does your example look like the tutorials?

AJ

Yes, I did switch out of Quick Mask Mode and the dotted lines were there.

[MuskyDude]

Yes, I did switch out of Quick Mask Mode and the dotted lines were there.

So the areas are selected as above when you go to apply the lens blur and nothing happens?

AJ

[JohnR]

Correct.

But trashing prefs for photoshop helped it and now I think it works. (don't have time this morning as we are heading up to Cinn. Zoo)

[MuskyDude]

Correct.

But trashing prefs for photoshop helped it and now I think it works. (don't have time this morning as we are heading up to Cinn. Zoo)


Looking fwd to seeing some examples, John!

Here's a few I did this morning...

http://northlight.smugmug.com/photos/62441323-L.jpg

http://northlight.smugmug.com/photos/62441319-L.jpg


Keep posting shots everyone! :thumb

AJ

[Justinas]

This is my attemp, I couldn't find good photo, so used simple one.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7650/p10400241sm.jpg

[MuskyDude]

This is my attemp, I couldn't find good photo, so used simple one.

Very nice! :thumb


AJ

[USAIR]

Boy those are awesome :clap

AJ really nice bridge shots

I need to keep working on these

Fred

[Justinas]

Very nice! :thumb


AJ

Yours are stunning :thumb

[photobug]

Sorry, that's not my photo..that's a screenshot from the tutorial.

I did everything it said. My brother was able to do it on his computer! But not me. :huh

Even just opening up a photo and doing Lens Blur does absolutely nothing to the photo. :scratch John,

I think you have to have a Depth Map to make Lens Blur work. You create a B&W image (commonly using Gradient Fill, or a mask you've created) and put it in an Alpha channel. All the Alpha channels can be accessed using the Depth Map option. The idea is that everything black in the Depth Map gets maximum blur and everything white stays fully sharp -- with all other degrees of blur represented by shades of gray. [I might have the meaning of B & W reversed, but that's the concept]

I know that when I use Lens Blur filter (not too often), I usually have to twiddle with it a bit to make it behave the way I want. (if I used it more often, the "twiddling" probably wouldn't be needed)

= Dave

[firedancing4life]

I like all of these guys....I need CS though :(:

[firedancing4life]

I like all of these guys....I need CS though :(:

oooo yeah...

fun fun fun.

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72912430-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72913682-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72912609-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72913446-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72912752-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72912829-L-1.jpg

[DanielB]

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72912609-L-1.jpg
http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/72912752-L-1.jpg


niceeee man. these are the best i think:thumb

[asamuel]

Failing at the first hurdle.

Open up your chosen image, press Q to switch to Quick Mask mode, then click on the Gradient tool. (sam says ok)

Set the colours to the default black and white by pressing D (guess thats the first option in gradient picker...or is it the third)

then switch them around by clicking on the double-headed arrow next to the colour chips (colour chps...double headed arrow? ok play that by ear).

Next, set up the gradient as shown above. Make sure you select the repeating gradient type – fourth icon along, looks like a cylinder (got it)

Choose where you want the focal point of the photo to be – usually about halfway between top and bottom – and click and hold at that point. Drag the line of the gradient tool upwards, then release it towards the top of the frame; it doesn't hurt to be a little off the pure vertical. You should get something like what's shown above.

(sam is completely stumped....can only get the gradient tool to make one mask, not one at the bottom and one at the top, tried ctrl, shift, hold down click, alt can only make one selection)

are there any problems doing this from Windows?

[firedancing4life]

Failing at the first hurdle.

Open up your chosen image, press Q to switch to Quick Mask mode, then click on the Gradient tool. (sam says ok)

Set the colours to the default black and white by pressing D (guess thats the first option in gradient picker...or is it the third)

then switch them around by clicking on the double-headed arrow next to the colour chips (colour chps...double headed arrow? ok play that by ear).

Next, set up the gradient as shown above. Make sure you select the repeating gradient type – fourth icon along, looks like a cylinder (got it)

Choose where you want the focal point of the photo to be – usually about halfway between top and bottom – and click and hold at that point. Drag the line of the gradient tool upwards, then release it towards the top of the frame; it doesn't hurt to be a little off the pure vertical. You should get something like what's shown above.

(sam is completely stumped....can only get the gradient tool to make one mask, not one at the bottom and one at the top, tried ctrl, shift, hold down click, alt can only make one selection)

are there any problems doing this from Windows?

Are you using CS?

Does your settings look like this? I had no problem with windows.
http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73155011-L.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73155117-L.jpg

[firedancing4life]

I couldn't resist doing a couple more. These are from Toledo, Spain, London and the Hoover Dam and one from Monterey, CA.

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73160085-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73160263-L.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73160170-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73089281-L-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73160368-O-1.jpg

http://firedancing4life.smugmug.com/photos/73160336-L-1.jpg

ok...no more minis from me :rofl it's too addicting!

[asamuel]

here i have two tries. dont seem to look to artifical. Any idea why. I think the goats in the foreground are too close.

Also when fiddling the curve for artificiality I couldnt get anywhere close without blowing all the high lights. Danis colours were so vivid and dense.
buggered if I know.


http://halfpenceteddycrew.smugmug.com/photos/73285015-M.jpg

http://halfpenceteddycrew.smugmug.com/photos/73287776-M.jpg

[rutt]

These are very nice and doing it in post like this is cool.

Everyone who likes these should be aware of the work of the real father of this genre: Olivo Barbieri (google him). He didn't use Photoshop, but creative use of tilt/shift lenses. He's been at it for quite a long time.

[firedancing4life]

These are very nice and doing it in post like this is cool.

Everyone who likes these should be aware of the work of the real father of this genre: Olivo Barbieri (google him). He didn't use Photoshop, but creative use of tilt/shift lenses. He's been at it for quite a long time.

That guy has some amazing stuff! Thanks for the heads up

[firedancing4life]

here i have two tries. dont seem to look to artifical. Any idea why. I think the goats in the foreground are too close.

Also when fiddling the curve for artificiality I couldnt get anywhere close without blowing all the high lights. Danis colours were so vivid and dense.
buggered if I know.


http://halfpenceteddycrew.smugmug.com/photos/73285015-M.jpg

http://halfpenceteddycrew.smugmug.com/photos/73287776-M.jpg

For the first one..if the closer goats were out of focus..it might look better...

and for the second...they guy in the corner cropped out would make the houses below look better.

[ivar]

A little late, but I wanted to play to. It's actually not that easy to get it 'right' I think.

http://Ivar.smugmug.com/photos/118935173-M-1.jpg

http://Ivar.smugmug.com/photos/118935204-M-1.jpg

http://Ivar.smugmug.com/photos/118935385-M-1.jpg