7 Mar 2006
Recently I was inspired by some photos by Olivo Barbieri. One of his projects involves him taking photos of famous landmarks from above whilst riding a helicopter and using a special “tilt shift lens” to create the illusion that the scenery is actually an incredibly detailed model. In his photos, landmarks such as The Coliseum in Rome to deserts in Las Vegas all appear as tiny macro-like versions of themselves when in fact you are looking at the real thing. I decided to experiment with this idea to create a Tiny Tokyo collection!
By Jon.
Olivo Barbieri: The Coliseum (detail)
Olivo Barbieri: Las Vegas desert (detail)
However, I do not have a tilt shift lens (expensive) or a helicopter (very expensive). These 10 images were all achieved by taking photos from high up locations in Roppongi and Ikebukuro in Tokyo, then applying photoshop effects to get a similar look to Barbieri’s tilt shift images.
Tiny highway
Tiny museum
Tiny Clutter
Tokyo Tower, with Zojoji Temple next to it.
Tiny playground
Tiny Train
Tiny Flags
Tiny Cemetery
Tiny Pyramid
Tiny Tennis
Even in a bustling metropolis like Tokyo, people find space to play sports in amongst the endless buildings.
There are 13 more images in this collection and you can see them here. Unfortunately without the use of a helicopter it’s difficult to get shots of interesting buildings or famous landmarks – as you can see Tokyo is so densely packed with buildings that from the few vantage points I tried, many famous landmarks were hidden behind a sea of buildings. See if you can recognise any of the places in the remaining photos!
http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/03/07/10-tiny-tokyo-photos/
http://www.photojojo.com/content/post-processing/miniature-model-effect-photoshop/
http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/06/02/how-japanese-style-illustration-works/
- hungtd -
