The Plaza

iPhone, cropped and filtered

The technique in the photo above is called “tilt shift.” By manipulating the focus of the shot, you can take an ordinary scene and transform it into something that looks like a miniature model. Though I suppose it doesn’t have a ton of practical applications, it’s still fun to play around with.

And best of all, Photoshop has a blur filter that creates the effect automatically, saving the expense and effort required to set up a lens to get the effect straight out of the camera. Indeed, I took this shot with my phone, which of course I couldn’t have attached tilt shift equipment to even if I’d had any with me.

Here’s what the undoctored photo looks like:

iPhone, cropped