Final Project: Tilt Shift and Vertigo Shot

15-463

Sylvia Han (sylviah)

VERTIGO SHOT & TILT SHIFT

Due: 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012

PROJECT 1: VERTIGO SHOT

Overview

The goal of this project was to create the famous vertigo effect, otherwise known as the dolly zoom.

Approach

The vertigo effect can be acheived by simultaneously changing the distance from an object while zooming in or zooming out. The goal of this technique is to focus on an object and keep the object the same size throughout the pictures, while changing the background and foreground.

I used a Canon Rebel DSC-T101. I rented the camera from the CFA multimedia cluster lab.

Example 1

The location of these images is the hallway underneath the bleachers on the football field at Carnegie Mellon University. I chose this location because the narrow long hallway seemed like a good choice to create the illusion of a long distance to walk.

Frames: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Example 2

This location was on Beeler St. I liked the graffiti on the mail box and it's general out-of-place-ness. Since I did not have a tripod, the images were jittery, however I kind of like the effect since it simulates my walking towards the mailbox.

Frames: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]

PROJECT 2: TILT SHIFT

Overview

The goal of this project was to create the tilt shift effect on images. The tilt shift effect creates the illusion of an image of fake miniatures. This phenomenon occurs because of the way that pictures of miniatures are usually taken. It is difficult for a camera to take a picture of miniatures where all of the objects are in focus. Therefore, these pictures usually result in a object that is in focus whereas everything else is blurry. As objects are farther away from the depth of field, they are exponentially blurrier.

Approach

The tilt shift effect can be achieved by first choosing two points to represent the depth of field. Then by convolving a gaussian filter, and filtering the image with the filter, create an increasingly blurry picture for regions farther out from the depth of field. Saturation was also increased to create the lively colors that would exist in miniatures.

I again used a Canon Rebel DSC-T101 to take pictures for this project. A high vantage point is required for the effect to look realistic, so I was often in a building pointing the camera through a window.