The early 2010s saw one of those crazes that sweeps the visual world in magazines, advertising and everywhere else you care to look. It consisted of taking a long shot of a cityscape or landscape and creatively applying a blur effect to the top and bottom of the image, making it look like an extreme closeup of a miniature.
It was always most effective when applied to city or urban scenes, and the dirty secret expensive art directors or photographers never wanted you to know was that it’s very easy to do with the right tools.
This example was made from a picture taken by me from on top of the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan, looking northeast towards the Chrysler Building and New York’s East River beyond. Download a bigger version right here to see if you think I got the effect right.
