This question isn't so much about how to achieve the effect of making a scene look like it's modelled in miniature, but why tilting the focal plane creates the effect. What is it about photographing miniatures that makes them look like miniatures, and how is this replicated by tilting the focal plane?
I can understand how when photographing a model of a scene, you have a much higher magnification, which leads to a shallower depth of field compared to when capturing the real-sized scene, but how does tilting the focal plane help? Is it just that you have the focal plane tilted relative to the plane that most of your subject is on, so that you can achieve a narrower depth of field for the focal length and aperture, or is there more to it than that?
Question now posted: http://photo.stackexchange.com/q/20990/101