Converting Vincent Van Gogh's paintings into tilt-shift "photographs" isn't really a gadget, but who cares when the results are this good?
The inevitable experiment was carried out by Artcyclopedia back in the summer, when 16 of the absinthe-sipping, ear-hating painter's pictures were run through Photoshop. The results are presented in a sometimes startling gallery.
Tilt-shift has had an interesting history. I first saw it in a gallery in Rome, and the photos were shot from high-points and helicopters using a large-format camera with a proper tilt-shift lens attached. These lenses are usually used for architectural photography, and involves tilting the lens upwards to squeeze in the top of a building while keeping the film-plane parallel to that building to avoid converging verticals. Tilting the lens like this also alters the plane of focus, letting you cut a slice of sharpness through an image.
This effect mimics the view we get of miniature models, with focus falling sharply off due to the camera being so close to its subject. So strong is this effect that it makes real landscapes seem to be tiny reproductions.
The technique came out of the camera and into the computer, and now there's even an app for that. Applied to Van Gogh's impressionistic paintings, it actually makes them seem more real, as it one had actually taken a photograph of a tiny landscape rendered in staccato yellow strokes.
Spend a few minutes checking the pictures out. Then do exactly what I'm about to do: go hit Google image search for old paintings of other artists and fire up Photoshop.
Tilt-Shift Van Gogh [Artcyclopedia via the Giz]
See Also:
- Tilt-Shift Comes to the iPhone
- Plungercam: DIY Tilt-Shift Lens
- Lensbaby Tilt Transformer Marries Nikon Lenses to Micro Four ...
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