tool · beta · on-device
Drop a photo, drag the focus band, watch the world become a miniature. Three focus shapes — horizontal band, vertical slice, radial spot. Saturation and contrast crank for the full plastic-toy illusion. Nothing uploads. For real lens work, grab a real camera.
Tilting the lens…
Tilting the lens…
where tilt-shift earns its keep
for cities
Tilt-shift turns a real street into a HO-scale model. Position the focus band over the people walking, blur the buildings above and the road below, bump the saturation. The full-size city becomes a tabletop diorama — same scene, dollhouse feel.
for travel
Travel photos of bustling squares always read better in tilt-shift than as flat documentary shots. The focus band on the market stalls, the blur on the cathedral and cobblestones, and the saturation crank — suddenly the photo is a postcard, not a reference image.
for landscapes
Switch to vertical-slice mode and the focus runs up-and-down the frame. Useful when the subject is vertical — a waterfall, a building facade, a tall tree. Blur left and right, sharp band through the center. Reads as 'one focused thing' instead of 'wide scenery'.
for portraits
Radial mode puts the focus inside a circle — sharp at the center, blurring outward. Place it on a face, set a moderate blur, and the photo reads like a vintage soft-focus portrait. The classic Vaseline-on-the-lens move, free, controllable.
for sports
Sports and action shots benefit from a focused band across the action and blur on the periphery. Reduces visual noise around the subject without cropping. Helmets, bikes, dance moves — all read sharper when bracketed by intentional blur.
for video stills
Phone video stills look flat because phone lenses have huge depth of field. Tilt-shift adds the optical-feel of a real cinema lens — shallow focus, blurred background. The frame suddenly reads as a film still, not a screen grab.
in case you're wondering
No. The blur composite runs on a canvas in your browser. Your photo never touches our servers — we don't run an image pipeline at all.
Real miniatures are photographed with shallow depth of field — only a thin slice is in focus. Tilt-shift mimics that on full-scale scenes by aggressively blurring everything outside a chosen focus band, then bumping saturation and contrast for that 'plastic toy' richness. The brain reads the focus drop-off as 'small subject, close camera' even though the scene is huge.
Horizontal band: classic city/street tilt-shift, blur top and bottom. Vertical slice: tall subjects (waterfalls, buildings), blur left and right. Radial spot: single subject in the center (portrait, product), blur outward in a circle.
Real miniature scenes (model trains, dioramas) have intense saturation because the paint is fresh and the lighting is bright. Bumping saturation on a real-world photo cues the brain to read it as a model, even before the blur registers. Contrast adds the same effect — strong shadows feel 'staged'.
Move the focus position to where your subject actually is — default is the middle, but a cityscape's people might be in the bottom third. Then narrow the focus band so the blur kicks in tighter to your subject. Smaller focus band = more pronounced miniature effect.
It can, but the effect is muted because real close-ups already have shallow depth of field — adding more blur on top can look exaggerated. Tilt-shift sells best on wide-scale scenes where reality has too *much* depth and you're forcing it shallower.
now what?
next →
Caption the miniature scene.
Opennext →
Reframe for IG or stories.
Opennext →
Recolour for a posterised tabletop look.
Opennext →
Float the diorama over paper for a print mockup.
Opennext →
Wrap the miniature in a Polaroid frame.
Opennext →
Use the diorama as a Pinterest pin hero.
OpenCut the background out of any photo in one click.
OpenDrop your subject onto paper, gradient, or your own backdrop photo.
OpenDrop a word behind your subject, magazine-cover style.
OpenNine presets, one photo — vintage to cinematic.
OpenTri-X, Kodak Gold, Lomo — pick a roll, see the grain.
OpenComic dots, risograph red, punk-zine textures.
OpenPhoto to graphite drawing in two clicks.
OpenMap photo to two colors — Spotify, sunset, riso.
OpenSunset, lomo red, golden hour — bleed light into corners.
OpenVHS bands, anaglyph 3D, CRT scanlines, chromatic aberration.
OpenConvert any photo to typed characters.
OpenPure invert, cyanotype, blueprint, X-ray, darkroom, sepia negative.
OpenPhoto as tiles with grout-color gaps.
OpenBrightness, contrast, saturation, hue, blur — seven sliders.
OpenAny photo, wrapped in paper with a handwritten caption.
OpenFour photos, B&W mode, handwritten caption.
OpenTwo photos, side-by-side or stacked.
OpenPaper mat for prints, journals, framed walls.
OpenCircle, heart, star, arch — pick a cookie cutter.
OpenGreetings caption, faux stamp, postmark, paper texture.
OpenFloat a photo over paper for portfolios and mockups.
OpenDrop a photo, type a title, pick a layout. 1000×1500 native.
OpenX, LinkedIn, or YouTube cover with title overlay.
OpenHandwritten captions, magazine headers, or a quick scribble.
OpenStick paper-mood tape onto any photo.
OpenLED red, Kodak yellow, camcorder amber.
OpenCorner sign-off or full diagonal tile.
OpenHearts, stars, flowers, smileys, paper tags, HELLO labels.
OpenSquare for IG, 9:16 for stories, 2:3 for Pinterest.
OpenMirror a selfie, un-tilt a scan, turn a sideways shot upright.
OpeniPhone photos that open on everything.
OpenHide faces, plates, addresses — drag a patch over the spot.
OpenRemove GPS, camera info, timestamps before posting.
OpenSmaller JPG, WebP, or PNG — same look, less file.
OpenPull 5 hex codes out of any photo.
OpenPrint-ready QR for menus, invites, journals, vCards.
OpenEyedropper a color in your photo, swap it for another.
OpenFor real shallow-focus →
A real tilt-shift lens (or a fast prime at f/1.4) gives the optical depth of field this tool fakes. For deliberate miniature photography on a budget, a 50mm f/1.8 plus creative framing beats software every time.