It was only last year, we think, that tiltshift photography really took off in the digital public. It caught on big and apps that purport to do this are many, but which of them are really up to the task and which make this fun photo process the easiest?
For starters, the effect only really works well when you have easily isolated subjects set in a scene with a long depth of field. This translates to mean that photos taken up close of a person are unlikely to yield very great results. It also means that pictures shot in under-optimal lighting conditions also tend not to render as well, as the backgrounds are already well out of focus. But with the right photo, the effects are something like magic.
In short, tiltshifting involves selecting a portion of your photograph that will remain sharply defined while adding a subtle blur to the rest of the photo. This has the effect of tricking the viewer's eye into seeing the in-focus part of the photograph as miniaturized while the blurry parts appear larger relatively.
Michael Krause's imimux puts out one of the more widely known tiltshifters, the simply named TiltShift. And he offers it as a universal app so you can get your shifting on regardless of device. Both apps come pre-loaded with the same gallery of practice photos so you can refine your technique before you begin working on your own photos.
TiltShift puts the tool bar across the top and allows you to work from the pre-loaded gallery, to choose from your own camera roll, or to take a picture on the spot. The tool button gives you the option of choosing an adjustable size and shape ellipse tool or a linear tool to help select which areas get the effects. The ellipse and linear tools also feature a filled in version and an outline version. The instructions explain the difference between these, though we found the filled tool to be more distracting as it blotted out parts of our photo when we were adjusting elements.
On the iPhone, Blocks Image
Once you've selected the tools you want, you can tap inside the photo to move the tool area around, to change its size and shape, or to rotate it. Having multiple blur tools in the way that jokey apps like Wobble gives you more than one area to, uh, wobble, would be a nice addition for any updates down the line.
There's more than just blurring, though. You can apply other effects such as brightening the photo, increasing or minimizing contrast, and tinkering with color saturation. There are also bloom intensity and bloom threshold tools that work on a bokeh effect. This means that small points of light in the photo can be given a boost and turned into brighter, blurred halos.
Controls Are a Little Easier to Work with on iPad
With this last effect, you can also choose from a variety of aperture shapes such as a heart, smiley face, an Apple apple, a dollar sign and more. We were unable to get any of our pictures to transform circles of light into any of those as the instructions claim possible, but the other effects were more than enough to keep us tinkering with our photos.
There were a few finger placement issues we found whether in iPad or iPhone version. When trying to work the slider across the bottom of the screen to increase our blur, even when our finger was directly on the slider, it was engaging the photo area and moving the position of the selector. Also, including an Undo button of some kind to restore a photo to its default original state or to back up steps would be helpful after you've fiddled with each possible setting.
If This Were a Building, It'd Blow Your Mind
We have to admit to be greatly disappointed in the iPad version of Art & Mobile's app, TiltShift Generator. With a two dollar up-charge, we were expecting a raft of additional features and tricks. Instead, we got the exact same tools laid out differently. Instead of merely icons across the bottom of the screen and an additional row of sliders above them when selected, the tool buttons and sliders are always on the screen and the photo appears above it.
TiltShift Generator iPad Controls are Pretty But We Want More
That said, the tools are rather nicer laid out and prettier than in TiltShift as they don't cover up the entirety of the photo while you're selecting them (though we found they do sometimes when using them). In part this is just a UI layout issue and in part there are simply fewer tools to work with. The app works in portrait or landscape mode on the iPad while rotating it in the iPhone merely moves your photo and not the tools which feels rather strange.
Weird to Work Sideways
When looking at the basic level function, the two the types of blur, linear and radial, radial was stuck as a circle and couldn't be ovalled out, only made bigger or smaller. In both apps, the linear selector would be greatly enhanced if you could shorten the area instead of only widening or thinning it.
The blur effect is not adjustable, however. Select your non-blur area and the app does all the work for you at a pre-set level of blur. This can be helpful if you don't really know what you're doing, but the lack of control over how the app modifies your photo can be frustrating. The color tools give you greater control than the blur, letting you slide your saturation, brightness, and contrast. However, we found that in portrait, the color sliders shove up over the bottom of your photo and in landscape they cut off nearly half the right-hand side of the photo. For this reason, we recommend not composing your photo with the subject at the bottom or right, unless you plan on working on the picture on your iPad.
Weird and Pointless Direction
Vignetting is something TiltShift Generator offered that TiltShift was lacking, letting you dim the edges around your photo for an antique effect. The other thing TiltShift Generator has all to itself is the ability to share photos through Twitter. Weirdly, only the iPhone version lets you post on your Facebook wall. In the iPad, there are also links to "Communities," which eject you from the app to go to Facebook or Flickr, for instance. This is just a pointless addition and lends nothing special to the app.
This one is a no-brainer. While TiltShift Generator is prettier, the fuller range of features, the more customizability, and the additional types of lenses all make imimux's TiltShift the far better app. And that's even before we mention that for $1.99 you get universal access on your iOS devices, while the same would set you back $3.98 for Art & Mobile's offerings. Are halving the features and doubling the price worth cutting out a few steps to post a picture on Twitter or Facebook or email it to someone? Not in our book.
