Now this just scratches the creative surface, I am going to send you to an artist who shows you how this approach is just the base for an even more exotic but polished look.
Go to http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/ photoshop/urban/index2.html Yes, it's long but it is worth the typing (it certainly is! Ed.). This is the work of Pierre Fabre, a French master of image manipulation. The tutorial page is part of a larger explanation of his art piece. What you will see here is how he starts with the reflection, in this case buildings, and gives them a motion blur. His magic is he takes actual water surface shots and blends them into the street reflection to give real water motion to the image. Still pushing the envelope he puts ripples in from snagged shots, one is a ripple caused by a duck landing. That ripple is put in at a walking guy's feet for the effect of him ploughing through the water.
>
All the ideas I have covered so far involve the mirror application to people. But as you probably saw when you mirrored an image for a background use, the mirror effect creates faces along with some unusual effects. So here is something to try. Take slices of an image so the edge of the image has something extending beyond it, for example, angry clouds sliced in the middle or a person’s limbs. Smoke, trees, you get the idea?
Then mirror them. Where the join is is where the interesting face or faces appear. The possibilities just go on forever.
This should expand your thinking on the possibilities of reflections. Once you get the hang of the simple base approach, your creative doors really open up.
Mark Laurie mpa, spa, fswpp
Mark is a photographer, speaker, writer and studio mentor.He teaches extensively in England and Canada. He runs Revealing Venus – Digital Nude & Glamour Photography Workshop in Paradise Island, Bahamas in August. You can find him at marklaurie.com and InnerSpiritPhoto.com.
Join today and receive a fantastic free gift: Apply here
