This effect has been getting some buzz lately because of this fantastic looking tilt shift time-lapse effect created by Keith Loutit.  There are a number of Photoshop Tutorials out there related to this, this one is great! so check it out.  I believe I even saw this explained in “Wired”…

But I figured if it can be done in Photoshop it can be done in After Effects.

It’s a pretty simple concept and so many other people have done a great job of explaining it, I figured why should I even bother.

But I figured I could do it one better by making an After Effects file you can use!  You can download it here.

In the file you’ll find a version for HD and SD.  You can drop in your own footage by just replacing the image I’ve included in the project file.

TIPS:

If you replace the footage un-parent the null object first, then do a replace footage command.( I used a null because I was using a digital image and I wanted to scale.)

You can adjust the blur of the image and the feather of the mask.

Keep in mind the band of focus should be narrow.  But with this technique you can move the mask around and make any part of the image have the miniature effect.

I hope this is useful.

Oh yeah, The photo is Downtown Kansas City, MO!