Tilt-shift lenses sit off-center of the film (or sensor) plane of your camera to produce photos with extremely limited depth of field, giving the effect of a macro shot of a tiny scene. When the effect is matched with the surreal speed boost of many stills strung together into a time-lapse movie (here by Keith Loutit), we get the other-worldly privilege of seeing real Australian beach goers as an elaborate Playmobil scape. Or Sydney Harbor in a bath tub...

The folks at Bent Image Lab also used a similar effect in parts of the video for Thom Yorke's "Harrowdown Hill":

And there's even more in this recent Metafilter roundup. Can't get enough of this right now. [Keith Loutit on Vimeo via Kottke, Metafilter, Bent Image Lab]

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