Tilt. Shift?

So awhile back, faking tilt-shift photography was all the rage on flickr and similar places. The idea is to make a normal landscape photo look like it’s a miniature via Photoshop gradient mask and lens blur. Like this:

It’s clever and cutesy cool and many people have spent hours playing with the effect.

[MORE EXAMPLES from Bryson City on my photoblog.]

Yes, even me.

Maybe it’s the desire to play God, make everything seem small but strikingly clear.

Or maybe it’s a nice way to make up for the fact that you can’t afford a tilt-shift lens.

Or that you didn’t position yourself strategically to get the effect you wanted.

Or… that you had too much light to limit the depth of field.

Or, didn’t know how to use the equipment you have to create a very narrow strip that’s in focus.

[Straight out of the camera. Shot with a Canon Powershot S3, supermacro, 1/50th at f5]

[Straight out of the camera. Shot with a Pentax K10D, 50mm lens reverse-mounted, at f1.7]