Surreal Mirror

[the angel]

Originally Posted by dandelion

the unexpected can be expected in creativity
i loved ur work , but u did not mention which program u used ?

[starjo]

great post-processing work! i love the image and think it illustrates what you wanted to convey. -i really like the vintage feel the final product has.

[Rose Colored Lens]

Very lovely, it has a whimsical touch to it. I could see this as the cover to a lovely novel.

[seabacon]

I this too complicated for posting the method steps in PS?

[stoobiedood]

Some good work happening here! Did you try anything to counteract the convergence of the vertical lines in the wall panelling? Someone else mentioned shadows -- I think that's what the hands need to make them work. The chin casts a strong shadow down-left; the curved shelf of the mirror base casts a similar, less strong shadow, other items cast shadows on the wall, but the hands appear flat without any shadow of their own.

I'm not sure the background pattern really works when combined with the narrow board panelling (speaking from an interior design point of view ;-) The pattern could only be from wallpaper (too complicated to stencil), but no-one would apply that over a deeply channelled bead-board. The pattern would be good on a flat background surface, though.

There's also a little bit of glare from the mirror surface in the Before shot -- if you could find a way to keep that in the After, it might look cool.

Neat concept altogether!

S.

[denja]

I hope the original poster doesn't mind, but I had a quick go at the convergence of lines and a really quick go at finger shadows. These could be much better, but it would take some time. They appear not quite as flat now. I didn't play with the glow effect because the portion of the mirror that contained it is now covered, so there really wouldn't be any there. Also, I think that the "before" image was really shown to help with the setup, and not meant to be a part of the actual "after" image.
Before

After

[Xstina28]

I am a newbie to photography. I really love what you have done here. Thanks for showing us how you did it! Keep it up Love to see more.

[JudysJ]

Originally Posted by dandelion

Obviously its up to you to interpret the photo as you will. I whole heartedly disagree with the sentiment that women should be seen and not heard and that was not my intention with the photograph. Its a personal photograph about insecurities and fears holding me back from saying, doing and acting how i wanted to. If that makes sense?

I'm new also, dandelion, so I don't know Quo Fan. I took the "seen and not heard" comment as a tongue-in-cheek request for more info, though. I got your intended meaning immediately and agree with it. But I'm a woman on the slippery slope to 70 -- for women of my generation, either your interpretation or Quo Fan's joke might have applied!

[PWJ]

You have put a lot of technical work into this. Well done.

For me it is just a teeny bit odd that there is no glass type effect or reflection in the frame - i.e. the mirror just looks like an empty oval. If that was intentional, then maybe it should't be the wall you see behind the girl, but something more akin to your title - surreal! So it looks like a portal or something.

Just a thought.

[PWJ]

Maybe even the ripple filter in Photoshop?

Cheers, Dandelion, keep up the good work!