Why the fake tilt shift effect? Otherwise, it's a neat picture!

stunning picture

I like!! :) Thanks for sharing.

Very nice!

The fake depth blur ruins it. Great shot, though!

heaven's gate

I sort of liked the fake tilt-shift effect, it makes the picture stand out among hundreds of autumn leaves wallpapers.

The fake tilt shift is a little too pronounced, I think. If it were a little less-so, it might not be as harsh on the eye.

That said, I love the colors and composition. What a great subject to shoot, too! *saved*

any chance of uploading a version without the tilt shift (preferably 1280x1024)?

Fake tilt shift ruins a great picture.

well, I love the picture, but I with it would be much better without this effect.

I agree with the others. The fake depth doesn't do anything to aid this already beautiful picture.

I have to somewhat agree with the others regarding the lens-shift, but as an alum of SJU, I love the subject matter! Any others up your sleeves, maybe some autumn pictures of lake Sag or the bell banner? Thanks! Kevin '06

stunning picture. get rid of the tilt shift!!!

Picture is not ruined at all, I think it's beautiful, thanks for the upload!

great photo. Was looking for a good autumn one and this is it.

Wow, I didn't think a simple blur effect could be so controversial :P
I added it because I thought it was a little boring as-is, and it had the benefit of drawing the viewer's attention more toward the middle half of the image, fixating on the arch and the path without going to more extreme measures like radial exposure or a super-wide crop.
That, and the idea of a tiny forest is very satisfying to me.

You guys are lucky I don't have the dough for a real TS-E lens, otherwise I wouldn't be able to remove it so easily:
http://web.me.com/earendilthemariner/old-stone-no-blur-2560x1600.jpg
Hack it to a different size as you see fit.

I quite like this photo - including added lens-blur, but I would use even more feathering, if possible, and perhaps less blur initially, especially at the top.
Fake tilt-shift certainly does help on occasion - it just depends whether the subject is already in complete contrast to the rest of the image, and in this case it is, so is not wholly needed. Though, it doesn't detract, especially since it's nice to be able to see any icons in the blur, rather than them disappear in the leaves.
Thank you x

Nellisoft: I just took a look at the non-blurry one and I must say that I like the submitted one better. You were right, without the blur it doesn't stand out very much.

Thanks for great work!

There is a nice blog post about this image by the photographer here:

http://nellisoft.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/week-26ish-old-stone/

wow... I'am speakless - great shot!

Great shot, and a good representation of SJU!

@chickenwire

This photographer updated his blog, here's the original post, but on the new site:
http://nellisoft.posterous.com/?page=5

@teeoh717, the permalink is the following:

http://nellisoft.posterous.com/2009/11/09/week-26ish-old-stone