Creating Fake Minituares
by Kimberly Kao, cs196-26-aas
The goal of this project is to create fake tilt shift photos. The method is simple. First, choose the object you want in focus (this would be the depth of field). Then, blur the rest of the image. Finally, increase the saturation to make the minituare illusion pop!
Method:
Some Results on Internet Images:
Photos from My Summer in Seattle, London, and Vancouver
Some Boats on South Lake Union, Seattle
A View of Carnaby Street, London
A Cozy Cottage, London
Boats at Vancouver Sea Wall, Canada
Man Throws Stick for Dog at Kerry Park, Vancouver, Canada
Bells and Whistles
All the masks used for the above images were created with ginput to allow for complex DOF regions. See below for the masks that were used for the Cottage (left) and Yosemite (right).
What I Learned
This was my first time learning about tilt-shift photography and to learn how to simulate this effect through code was very cool! It's fun to see how much we can manipulate images using just a Gaussian blur.
Creating the Vertigo Shot
by Kimberly Kao, cs196-26-aas
Overview
Here, we create the dolly zoom effect by adjusting the FOV with a zoom lens. The camera moves toward or away from the subject while keeping the subject the same size in the frames. I used a Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm kit lens to take the following photos. I tried taking photos at locations with a visible depth of field in the background.
It was much easier to take Sequence #1 because of the flat ground on which I placed my camera. For Sequence #2, I had to use a combination of tripod and hand holding, which resulted in some subtle differences in the angle at which the pictures were taken, so Sequence #2 looks less smooth than Sequence #1.
Sequence #1: I'd Like to Help You Out
Sequence #2: Olaf Chilling
Bells and Whistles
Bells and Whistles #1: Sequence GIFs
Bells and Whistles #2: Trying Different Combos
Here, for Sequence #1, I experimented with moving the subject to create the zoom effect instead of zooming the camera lens. This was easier to take than moving the camera because it was easier to control the size of the subject by physically moving the subject.
Bells and Whistles #3: Calculating FOV
Using the equation FOV = 2 * arctan(d / 2f), where d = width of subject and f = distance from camera to subject, I calculated the following for Sequence #1.
Zoom | Width of Subject | Distance from Camera to Subject | FOV |
---|---|---|---|
18 mm | 5 in | 18 in | 15.814 degrees |
55 mm | 5 in | 52 in | 5.505 degrees |
What I Learned
This was my first time learning about the Dolly effect as well. As a leisure photographer, I am always happy to learn about new ways of taking interesting photos.