Does Anybody Remember Tilt-Shift?

Funny how quickly things pass. But I still love tilt-shift. My method for creating fake tilt-shift images is very, very simple and fast. Just go to Bing maps and select Bird's Eye view, then blur all but an oval of the image. Time it took to make this image of Gießen, Germany, (one of my homes on my childhood tour of the world growing up as an Army brat) was about 1 minute total. (Click for a better effect)

Fake 3D Model Making in Photoshop

Looks much better in larger view

Fake tilt shift photography of my street. I like this effect. Here's a Flickr group devoted to it.

Pretty simple. Grab a bird's eye view of your locale using MSN's Live Search Maps. Gausian blur most of the shot, pump up the saturation and contrast and dim the sun a little and you have the instant illusion of a model railroad city. OK, a really detailed model railroad built by professional model makers. Or like that old one for HBO.