What’s Your Preference?

PKSon · #1 (**permalink**) 04-20-2009, 08:11 AM

My two serious hobbies : Magic and photography

I wanted to fuse them somehow and just taking pictures of cards and other magicians holding wands didn't seem too interesting. So I took my photoshop and tried to get into some surreal stuff.

Most multiplicity photos don't have much interaction between the characters. Magic is all about interaction, so I tried to include that into the photo by actually making myself pick a card from the deck I was holding.

Basically it's taking two shots of yourself and putting them together into one.
Here are some tips on how to make them interact better.

Tripod. - Yes, bring one.
Manual exposure - fix the exposure or else you mght run into trouble.
Make sure you know where things are - If the hand, body position or other stuff doing coincide with each other, of course it's not going to work. So you need to make sure you know exactly where something is on the photo.
You will probably want to use manual focus. - If the camera acts smart and focuses on what it sees then even a slight difference in distance could turn into a focal disaster. Oh, and take a picture of just the background with that same focal length.
Plan what you need in the picture beforehand - You can have a baby rhino standing next to you and just photoshop him out if that area is going to be filled with something else later. This means that if you need to use string, a stick, or something to hold something in place, by all means do so. Like I said, careful planning.
Know your limits, or lack thereof - if you know how much you can cheat, you will know what you can acheive.
Layer masking is your friend

So yeah, hope this helps, or at least was interesting enough for you to finish reading.

Have fun!

mcn7681 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-20-2009, 01:38 PM

Simply brilliant!!!

Brian Miller · #3 (**permalink**) 04-20-2009, 05:50 PM

I was delighted to see this thread!! This is another approach. It is not a self-portrait, but certainly relies on the same techniques. I set up my camera on a tripod outside, and took a whole lot of photos at the same exposure settings, as she bounced around inside. Then I carefully picked shots to fill the space with her, all cropped down to just the parts of her that were needed, and layered them in a full shot of the space.

PKSon · #4 (**permalink**) 04-21-2009, 10:45 AM

mcn - Thanks! It was fun to make too!

Brian - That picture is pretty awesome! (You have a cute daughter, or niece) I like how the balloons are bouncing around as well. hehe.

Here's another one that is probably closer to your concept. I had fun with this one as well.

Brian Miller · #5 (**permalink**) 04-21-2009, 04:14 PM

I love the shadows! These photos are interesting to me, because you don't need to obey the normal requirements of giving the viewer a face to look at, or a normal focal point in the image. The magic of effect is the subject matter!