Got a spare 6 minutes? Here’s photographers Erik Johansson presenting at TED about his ‘Impossible Photography’.
Erik combines photos together to create surreal yet realistic images. In the video he shares his rules of doing it.
View more of Erik’s Imagery at his site
What do you think?
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20 Responses to “How to Create Impossible Images: Erik Johansson” - Add Yours
February 21st, 2012 at 6:38 am
A lot of the shots (compositions?) remind me a lot of M.C. Escher’s work. Very similar in making something that can’t exist appear completely believable.
February 21st, 2012 at 7:03 am
I think that I don’t have the patience for that, but the images are really stinkin’ cool!!
February 21st, 2012 at 10:24 am
The guy is amazing. Creativity off the charts and the skill to pull that off.
February 21st, 2012 at 4:38 pm
That’s sooooo cool! I can’t even begin to comprehend the details of how this was done. This guy is truly brilliant! Amazing.
February 21st, 2012 at 5:25 pm
I admire the amount of work he puts into making his images.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:29 am
Very good, something I’ll have to give a go at. Now to come up with a wild idea and make it happen.
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Oh man, Erik’s work has always connected with me very well! We share the same values creating artwork that is photorealistic but also unrealistic if it were to be seen in reality. To me, those types of images are the best ones that exist!
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:26 pm
planning ,light , imagination does it all!
http://raghavendra-mobilephotography.blogspot.com/2012/02/wall-painting-of-day-and-night.html
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Wow, awesome! Such unique ideas. Thanks for the video.
February 23rd, 2012 at 5:20 am
Very very talented but tell us something we don’t already know- yes, it comes down to planning and matching to make the composite seamless. Did he need to give a presentation to say just that?
The only thing helpful was seeing the photos he used to make the composite- however, what he should have been talking about was how they were constructed and normalized in photoshop.
February 24th, 2012 at 3:25 am
I just say… I loved the last phrase!… “The only thing that limit us is… our imagination”… this is awesome.. thks for sharing with us =):
February 24th, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Sorry, but I have seen all this before (Escher?) He was a real genius!!
Some of the compositions look more like ilustrations than photographs… That takes away a little of the “real thing” feel for me.
Good work anyway, just not very impressed
February 25th, 2012 at 1:12 am
Very nice job but if it surprises you certainly you must google for Escher, Magritte, Dalì and even Storm Thorgerson for a start.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
If you put M.C. Escher and Dan Hill together, you get Johansson.
February 28th, 2012 at 11:30 am
Fantastic! He must have crazy mad skills in Photoshop!
February 29th, 2012 at 8:27 am
Erik’s images are simply amazing. As he said, it comes down to planning, but I don’t think I will ever get to his skill level, or have his imagination or patience. It would have been nice if he gave an example of exactly how he created one of the images rather than just showing the various photos he used in a composition, but I guess that would be another video entirely.
February 29th, 2012 at 9:30 am
Hi Darren, Really enjoy your weekly tips.
? for you??? I’m playing with bracketing on my G12 and Photomatix HDR
What do I set my aperture at for the 3 pictures or use P and let it happen???
February 29th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
That’s why I love modern technology (well, some of it). I was always into photography and wanted to take images of what I imagined. Now I do and he does too <3
March 8th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
loved it–”the only thing that limits us is imagination”
April 16th, 2012 at 2:48 am
god… he’s amazing… now i want to try it…
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