Quick tip: How to make the tilt-shift effect in Lightroom

Do you like photos with tilt-shift effect? If you do, then you know there are plenty of ways to make them. You can either buy a tilt shift lens or make one on your own. And if you prefer doing it in post-processing, Photoshop and Lightroom will be your allies. This tutorial from Scott Kelby teaches you to fake tilt-shift effect in Lightroom in no time.

First, open the photo to which you’d like to add tilt-shift effect. Have in mind that this technique works better for the photos in low resolution (like the ones you use for the web).

Use the Graduated Filter tool and double click the “Effect” so all the sliders go to zero. Next, slide “Clarity” and “Sharpness” to -100, which will create the blur effect.

After this, use the tool and drag it from the upper and lower side of the image to create the areas with blur, just like in the real tilt-shift photos. To make the transition less smooth, make the gradient filter narrower. With these two blurry areas and one strip of clear image, you’ll get the tilt-shift effect and that’s pretty much it.

Although this technique works better on low res images, there’s a trick to make them work on high-res photos as well. Right click the Graduated Filters you applied and chose “Duplicate”, which will stack up the effect.

So if you don’t own a tilt-shift lens or don’t want to make your own, this is a nice and quick way to create a tiny town with tiny people in just a few minutes.

[How to Do The Tilt Sift “Tiny Town” Effect in Lightroom | Scott Kelby]