Toy Mustang
by Navisto 2010
Released at Bünzli 19

Motivation
----------

I've long lusted for a nice radio controlled model warbird. 
Unfortunately, my son is just over 2.5 years old, meaning I'll 
lack the usual daddy's excuse to buy all the cool toys for 
another couple of years. In the meantime, the dream has to take 
a back seat, but at least I got to create a virtual Toy Mustang...

Steps:
------

-- ToyMustang-0-Source.png

This is the source image of the real deal, a P51 Mustang just 
after landing. It was taken at the Oldtimerflugtage Kestenholz in 2009.

-- ToyMustang-1-Cleanup.png

Removing a couple of disturbing objects in front of the plane as 
well as in the background provides an uncluttered view. There's 
a bit of color correction as well. Attention to detail wasn't 
required here, as all corrections happen outside the main area 
of interest.

-- ToyMustang-2-FeatureEnhance.png

Enhancing the large scale features is the first major step towards 
a "miniaturisation" of the plane. This was done using the Topaz 
Detail tool for convenience, but overlaying a high-pass filter with 
wide support and a bit of tweaking would result in a similar look 
without the need for 3rd party plug-ins.

-- ToyMustang-3-Depth.png

The most effective way to turn any image into a miniature is to 
simulate the shallow depth of field that results when taking a 
close-up picture of a small object with a wide-aperture lens. This 
isn't quite as straight-forward as it might seem. A real camera 
can look slightly behind the edges of a real object, with an 
aperture that isn't round. Fortunately, Photoshop includes a lens 
simulator that takes a depth field as the input and creates a 
decent approximation of the real effect. The picture shows this 
depth input. Things get messy around the moving propeller though, 
so there was a lot of manual retouching required around that area.

-- ToyMustang-Final.png


The result. Too bad I can't control it using my radio... 

