Tilt-shifted scenes from last year’s expedition to Tokyo

Many thanks to Michael Surtees for alerting me to TiltShift Generator, an elegant and easy mobile and desktop program from Takayuki Fukatsu, the prolific creator of the Quad Camera, Old Camera, and Toy Camera applications for the iPhone (god, I miss my iPhone; thanks to the evil machinations of AT&T, it’s a brick here in Finland — but that’s another post).

Tilt-shifting creates a bizarre effect. Not only does it distort perspective and scale, it somehow sucks the air out of a photograph, transforming the subject into something plastic and timeless. You can also achieve a similar effect by following this Photoshop tutorial, but Fukatsu’s application is faster and more fun. I’ve been neglecting my responsibilities and fooling with it all morning. Scenes with an elevated vantage point seem to work the best.

Be sure to check out some terrific NYC tilt-shifting scenes with a proper real-life lens from Stephen Baker. 

And Keith Loutit from Sydney creates beautiful tilt-shift videos of beaches, boats, and truck rallies. 

‘Beach’ by Keith Loutit

Thanks to Exit Creative for the tip, as well as providing a helpful description of the mechanics behind tilt-shift photography.

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Speedy J – Red Shift
from Red Shift. Electric Deluxe, 2008 | buy it
An understated piece of warehouse suspense. And you must download the Speedy J & George Issakidis mix for Get the Curse. As Chris at Mnml Ssgs said, “I am not going to bother with explanations, but all i will say is this is not what you’d expect – this is one of the best mixes I have heard in a long time.”

He’s right: this is an incredible hour of grinding slow-motion outer space acid that blows the current crop of techno mixes out of the water. Speedy J and Issakidis craft a seamless candlelight-on-the-walls transmission that doesn’t give a damn about the dance floor; they just want to rattle your ribcage. An airplane even lands somewhere around the 15-minute mark and that’s just fine. Download it!