I have an obsession with small things. Starting at a young age, I can remember building tiny cities and farms with my brother with wood blocks and small plastic figurine pigs. I continuously checked out the same book on making my own miniature doll furniture, and was way obsessed with decorating Barbie’s dream house with all of her miniature accessories. Even a bit more grown up, I still find myself in love with small things, from miniature brass figurines to tiny tiny lamps and, as most here know, dogs with short legs.
Tiny is just too cute, and so I love the emergence of Tilt Shift Photography. I can now make everything appear at a smaller scale. Tilt shift photography gives the appearance of a scaled model, with a shallow focus, high-contrast, and vibrant colors. Today, I’m sharing a fun way to create this look in Photoshop, so you too can start shrinking your world.
1. Select a Photo. Generally a model is seen from above, so make sure you’re choosing a shot from a high and wide angle, this will give you the best results. For this tutorial, I choose a photo taken out of my upstairs window of the street below.
2. Enter Quick Mask Mode. Open the image in Photoshop and enter Quick Mask Mode. You can do this by pressing Q on the keyboard, or select the Quick Mask icon at the bottom of your tools palette.
3. Draw a Gradient. Select the gradient from the menu by pressing G. Choose the reflected gradient. Draw a line where you want your main focus to be on the image. In this picture I choose the car to be the most in-focus element. If you look closely, I drew a line from the bottom of the car wheel to the top of the car. Keep using the gradient until you get the placement you’d like.
Ikea is putting out a cookbook, but no, you don’t need an Allen wrench to build your favorite Swedish dish. The book, however, is cleverly done with beautiful, witty, and functional imagery that makes even me want to cook. It’s called “Hembakat ar Bast” (Homemade is Best) and its’ best feature is the stark, geometric photography by Carl Kleiner. All of the ingredients are broken down into a still life image containing small piles and pieces. It definitely has the streamlined, modern appeal that keeps Ikea in business. The book is 140 pages, with 30 classic Swedish recipes. Fortunately, this book is free! Unfortunately it’s only in Swedish, and can only be found in Sweden. But wait, they have an app too! The app is called Kondis and contains the same recipes from the book. Not only that, but it will also tell you how much exercise you have to do to work off the dish! Now you can enjoy your Swedish fancies without a guilty conscience! 
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