Yesterday we were whimsically wondering what life would be like if we could Photoshop away some of life’s more unpleasant moments, and today we’ve stumbled onto a different approach in the form of the Retouch Mirror. The mirror, which will cost you about $85 from Atypyk, is a fun bathroom accessory for photographers who want to make their morning routine feel more like a post-processing session. If you don’t want to drop $85, you can always convert your existing mirror into a Retouch Mirror using these Photoshop magnets.
Snapping a self-portrait of oneself in a mirror is something every photographer has probably done before, but have you ever created one in which there isn’t a camera in the shot? The images look impossible, but they’re not too difficult to create using some careful planning and clever Photoshop trickery. Basically, all you need to do is photograph each arm and your head separately and then stitch the photographs together. Joshua Dunlop over at ExpertPhotography has published a tutorial on the technique.
Unless you’re constantly staring at photos of yourself, the image that comes to mind when you think of your own appearance is most likely not what other people (and cameras) see, since mirrors show us a flipped image of ourselves. With this in mind, Los Angeles-based photographer Juan Luis Garcia is working on a project titled Face Value:
I photograph people looking at themselves through a two-way mirror. I then flip the image horizontally to show their reflection so that we get to see what the subject saw when they were looking into the mirror. It’s amazing how unique our reflections are compared to how others see our faces. The question then becomes, what do these people see when they stare into their own eyes? [#]
You can find more of these images and an interview with Garcia here.
Mark Rober — the guy behind the gaping-hole-in-torso costume — recently came up with a creative way of getting up close and personal with gorillas at his local zoo. It turns out that apes can’t resist looking at themselves in mirrors, so Rober drilled a hole in a mirror and pointed his iPhone’s camera through it. He was then able to snag some awesome footage that most visitors would never be able to capture. This trick may also work for other animals that are known to pass the mirror test of self-awareness, including dolphins, elephants, and certain birds.
These photos might look like they were computer generated, but they’re actually unmodified photographs. Ron Brinkmann took 6 mirror tiles and made a box with them with the help of some duct tape. He then placed a camera inside and triggered shots using the timer. Read more…
Photographer Murray Fredericks took sixteen solo trips over eight years to the center of Lake Eyre in Australia, the largest lake in the country and one that forms salt flats every year when the water evaporates. These salt flats provide a perfectly flat, featureless landscape that extends to infinity in every direction, and allow for beautiful abstract photographs. Read more…
There hasn’t been much activity in the PetaPixel Store since we launched the Leica Look-Alike skins in September 2010, but today that changes — we’re pleased to announce the new Polaroid Picture Frame and Mirror! It’s an awesome picture frame for your desk that looks just like Polaroid 600 instant film, and when there isn’t a photo inside it doubles as a mirror. Read more…
Here’s a photograph we’ve all taken… only in our bathroom mirror. NASA astronaut Michael Fincke shot this photograph with what looks like one of the Nikon DSLRs on board using a reflective-portion of the International Space Station. This means he shot a self-portrait roughly 200 miles above the ground while zipping around the planet at 17,000 mph.
How much does a camera vibrate due to your finger pressing the shutter or the mirror flipping? Camera Technica decided to conduct a test by strapping a laser pointer to the hot shoe of a Canon 7D. They then filmed the red dot on a far wall against some text while shooting normally (i.e. pressing the shutter with a finger), using a remote shutter release, and finally with a remote shutter as well as mirror-lockup.
You might be surprised at how much movement the camera experiences even if the shutter is pressed carefully. Lesson learned: for the sharpest possible photos, use a tripod, a remote shutter release, and the mirror-lockup feature on your camera.
Here’s a video comparing the mirror and shutter curtain mechanisms of the Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, Nikon D700, and Nikon D7000 DSLRs. It’s pretty surprising how much the Canon mirrors bounce compared to the Nikon ones…
