Miniature faking - The Best How-To article on Wikipedia - grazie Matt Gorbet!

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"Miniature faking is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is made to look like a photograph of a miniature scale model. Blurring parts of the photo simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered in close-up photography, making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is; the blurring can be done either optically when the photograph is taken, or by digital postprocessing. Many faked-miniature photographs are taken from a high angle to simulate the effect of looking down on a miniature."

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