Photoshop How To

Tilt-shift photography can be incredibly striking, providing a miniaturized effect on your subject that’s unforgettable. But it’s not a look you want all the time, which is part of the reason why buying an actual tilt-shift lens might be an unnecessary investment for some photographers.

Pro-level tilt-shift lenses can, after all, cost $2000 and higher. You can, however, produce the tilt-shift diorama-like miniature effect in Photoshop. In the below video, photographer Peter McKinnon shows you how.

“Now one of the most popular things that you’ll see using tilt-shift photography is architecture or shots of cities, and it makes everything look miniature, even for time-lapses, which is a really interesting take,” McKinnon says.

“This tutorial is an explanation on how to fake the tilt-shift look in Photoshop without having to actually buy the lens. Now you’re going to get better results with the lens, doing these things optically, for sure. But for people like me who just want to edit a photo here and there with this type of technique, this is going to work great.”

Watch the video below and then try McKinnon’s Photoshop technique this weekend to produce stunning tilt-shift images and videos of your own. We also highly recommend you visit and subscribe to McKinnon’s YouTube channel for more photography how-to videos, including this one where he shows you how to turn any lens into a macro lens.