Focus in a specific area?

no idea technically but my gut reaction is post processing - especially when you see they've done a vignette quite heavily. (I had to look up vignette online - I had the word vigilante stuck in my head - but knew it was wrong!)
 
It looks like it was done in post processing. If you look it can't have been done by controlling the depth of field with the aperture as the tower block mid frame is in focus, which is in the distance but so is the foreground at the same point.

It was probably done with a layer mask and lens blur applied. I've used the same technique to replicate the effect of a tilt and shift lens.

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Probably a simple PP effect is my guess. It's the optical illusion which is effective. Although I reckon you could do something similar with a Lensbaby with a smallish aperture.

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It could be done in post processing, but I think it's a tilt lens effect.

These lenses are usually used to maximise depth of field by tilting towards the subject, but you can reverse that by tilting in the opposite direction, in which case depth of field is dramatically reduced - the so-called miniature effect.

But if you then rotate the the lens, the plane of sharp focus can be aligned anywhere you like, and in this case it runs top to bottom, through the centre.
 
looks like a minature shot from a canon s95
 
Ah I looked up tilt shift lens simulation with photoshop and I think it's probably that although reading about tilt shift lenses there's no reason why it couldn't be that as well. Thanks for the replies :)
 
adamgtp said:
Ah I looked up tilt shift lens simulation with photoshop and I think it's probably that although reading about tilt shift lenses there's no reason why it couldn't be that as well. Thanks for the replies :)
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Yes, could be either. As well as some compacts, the new Canon 60D also has a miniature simulation trick which I'd like to try. Doesn't seem right doing it with processing somehow...

But just browsing that guy's wesbite - he's a very good professional with some fantastic work on there - I'd say the tilt lens was a fairly safe bet for that shot.
 
It's certainly not classical lens focus - the incident angle on the building is too perpendicular, and the focusing distance too long to get that sort of minimal depth of field with any reasonable aperture. even, say, with a 50mm f/1 you'd get 7-or-so feet in focus at 30 feet distance to subject.

Take the in focus high-rise in the background into consideration aswell, and it's only now doable using wither a tilt-shift lens, or a tilt-shift process after the image has been taken. Given that the effect is rather pronouced and severe, I'd go with the PP.

Not an unpleasant effect - I quite enjoy doing it on my iPhone and on my new G12 [which offers a similar column of focus as a scene mode].
 
This effect can be carried out on basic image editing software online such as piknik via picasa 3, as focal softening, just chose the central area of focus, how large the focused area is required to to be, how hard you want edges to be, and bingo job done.
 
adamgtp said:
Ah I looked up tilt shift lens simulation with photoshop and I think it's probably that although reading about tilt shift lenses there's no reason why it couldn't be that as well. Thanks for the replies :)
Click to expand...

It doesn't look like it's been done with a true tilt/shift lens. The actual depth of field is very deep if you take a good look at the image.

Fake tilt-shift effect applied at 90 degrees to the usual orientation.
 
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Both lensbaby and centre spot would lead to a radial blur. This has a precise clear column of 'focus'. It's a PP effect - Canon and Olympus put a version in their camera,I have a version in my iPhone, and I'm sure there are a hundred photoshop filters which would do the same thing.

I like the effect generally, but I'm not a fan of the photograph in question here. Still, it's made us talk about it, so it's a successful photo on many levels!
 
Yep I agree, this particular photo is not my favourite. I was just browsing and stalled on it, hadn't seen an affect like this before. I'm actually shocked at the number of replies this got!
 
Personally I really love the tilt shift effect - probably comes from a childhood of airfix kits (that didn't stop at childhood!). Its v easy to do in photoshop and I have a play occasionally. The trick is to try and get an angle which is elevated from the subject.

There is quite a good tutorial on it here
 
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