Dawhitestig

You can also get this affect with tilt-shift lens; tilt it against the object plane and it will give you that miniature look of the object. On the other hand, tilt it along the object plane will give you a full focus of the object while blurring the background.  A fun lens to have. :)

Dawhitestig

Yes, you guys are absolutely right... return on investment for tilt-shift lens is relatively low.