Sweet tilt-shift and time-lapse photography

I just discovered Keith Loutit‘s work today on Vimeo (thanks D).


Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

From Telegraph: He combines two techniques – tilt-shift and time-lapse photography – to create a “dreamy” impression of the monster trucks rally in Brisbane, Australia.

In tilt-shift photography, objects are made to appear small and toylike by altering the camera’s lens to narrow the image’s depth of field – the portion of a scene that appears sharp.

By running together 15,000 of these still photos – taken over three hours at the event in November – he created a magical time-lapse animation that has earned plaudits across the web.

“These easiest way to understand… [tilt-shift photography]… is to hold up a small object such as a pen very close to your eye. You will notice that your eye can only focus on the tip of the pen, and that the background is blurred out of focus. Tilt-shift photography can simulate this effect when applied to larger and more distant objects.”

He went on: “Time-lapse photography speeds up subjects to match the tempo of smaller subjects such as remote controlled vehicles. By manipulating time I can make crowds on Bondi Beach march like ants in a colony, or ships in the ocean bob up and down like toys in a bathtub.

“For each subject, whether it be boats, cars or people I work to find the right recipe of speed, vantage, light direction and focus to support the illusion.”

Check out the rest here.


Helpless from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.