No, this is not a stop-motion video of miniatures. When I first discovered the work of Keith Loutit, that was exactly what I thought.
Music: “Mi Plato de Barro” by Chicha Libre (Barbes Records)
Loutit incorporates two photographic techniques (tilt-shift & time-lapse) to create his unique visual art. He hopes his virtual model scenes of reality will inspire people to take a fresh look at places familiar to them.
The above video is called ‘Bathtub II’. The genius behind Loutit’s work is being able to take something as large as Sydney Harbor in Australia and actually transforming it to the appearance of a child’s toys in a bathtub. He has done the same thing with large arena truck shows and beaches as well.
The possibilities for this are endless but extremely work intensive. Even before the tedious task of editing, Loutit has to scout out locations, test lighting, focus and then snap off thousands of still images. The end result is nothing shy of genius and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Tilt-Shift & Time-Lapse:
Tilt-Shift refers to tilting a camera’s lens relative to the image plane and using a large aperture to achieve a very shallow depth of field. This technique tricks the brain into perceiving a scene as being miniaturized.
Time-Lapse is the technique of filming at slow speed and playing back at a much faster speed. Combined with tilt-shifting, this adds to the ‘miniature’ illusion by creating quick, jerky movements often associated with tiny objects.
See Also:
Keith Loutit [website]
Keith Loutit [vimeo]
