Mirror Images

Mirror images in photography are an image that has been rotated or 'flipped' as to create an exact copy of the original image as if you were looking into a mirror. Another addition to this is to replicate the image and position it and add an effect so that it looks more like a reflection. This effect can be achieved quite easily using Photoshop.

Here are some examples of mirror images: 

Here is how i made my images.

First I opened my image in Photoshop and made a copy of the layer.

Then I made a not of how big the image was so that I could make a new canvas to place the images on for the mirrored effect. I chose to mirror my image horizontally.

I made a new canvas at 48.22 cm wide and 36.31 cm high and 300 pixels per inch resolution.

Then I dragged one of the images onto the new canvas.

Then I flipped the original image horizontally.

I then moved the flipped image onto the canvas and positioned them.

This was my end result.

Sepia

I've always been a fan of Sepia images, I like the feel they give the picture. 

Today I made my own in Photoshop, and its very easy!

First i converted my image to greyscale, make sure you use the adjustments panel so that it adds a new layer and you also get this dialog box. 

There is then a little box that comes up with the word 'tint', click that box.

The drop down box at the top of the dialog box allows you to change the colour of the tint. 

This is the colour i used and this is my final result. 

I use the sepia effect in my work quite a lot and ive become quite a fan of it over the years. I think it almost gives the viewer a new take on the image almost like it has a history. After doing some research I found that a lot of people have thought it looks very fake when done digitally but i disagree. I think if its done well, it looks very good.

Nadav Kander style

Kander is famous for his portraits and has photographed many celebrities in his career. His portrait of Gary Barlow really stands out to me. 

Today I used Photoshop to create my own 'Nadav style' portrait.

The first step I took was to convert my image to greyscale. 

Then I made a copy of that layer.

Then I turned the opacity down to 35%. 

Then I used the move tool to move the copied layer slightly to the left. 

Then i added a layer mask and used a black brush tool to take away the movement effect from her face. 

Then I flattened my image and created a copy layer. 

Then i added a gradient to my image to give it some colour.

Then I changed the blend mode of my image to get the result I was looking for. I used Overlay. 

This was my final result. 

Kander's work stood out to me because its different. He's taken a completely different look at the simple portrait and it works remarkably well! I'd never seen anything like Kander's work before I was recently introduced to him and I was instantly captivated! I think his work is so popular because even though its so simple, its so different!

Loretta Lux Style

Loretta Lux, born in 1969, was born in Dresden, East Germany and is a fine art photographer known for her surreal portraits of young children. Lux graduated from the Academy of visual arts in Munich in the 1990's and debuted at the at the Yossi Milo Gallery, New York in 2004. This show put both Lux and Yossi on the map and sold out, setting prices never before seen from a new gallery. 

I've been captivated by Loretta Lux's work and decided to try it out for myself using photoshop. 

My first step was to choose an image that contained most of the upper body of my model.

This is the image I chose.

 My second step was to use the Quick mask tool to select the subjects head.

Once i had done this is clicked on the Quick mask tool again. Marching ants will appear around the edge of the image and the place you selected. Then i clicked onto select at the top and pressed inverse. Now just her head is selected. Press CMD+J to create a new layer of the selection. 

I then used Edit > Transform > Scale to edit the size of my subjects head. 

To Place the head layer correctly I turned down the opacity of the top layer and matched it with the layer underneath. Then I chose the eraser tool and the white colour and blended and overlapping matter. 

When you are happy with your work merge your image down. 

Loretta Lux's subjects have a cooler desaturated feel to their skin tones. For the next step I used the adjustment panel, not using Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to decrease the saturation of my image. Because i only wanted her hair, face and arms desaturated i added a layer mask and used CMD+I. This colours the mask black which i then used a white brush tool to erase the black from the areas i wanted desaturated. This allows you to desaturate the areas you want. 

When you are happy merge your image down again. 

The large doll like eyes in Loretta's work help to add to the feeling of uncanny. This is achieved using the warp tool. To do this use the Lasso tool to select the area around the subjects eyes. Use CMD+J to add this as a new layer. 

Then I used Edit > Transform > Warp and a grid came up around the area I had selected. The handles and lines can be moved around to adjust the size and shape of the eyes. 

Then you flatten your image.

Make a copy of the flattened layer. Then choose Filter > Other > High pass. Set the radius so that the lines are just showing through the grey. 

from this step you invert the sharpen to a soften by using CMD+I. Then add a layer mask and invert it black by again using CMD+I. But because i only wanted to use this soften effect on the skin, i used the white brush tool so it was only applied there. 

Then I used the dodge and burn tool on the eyes. I used the burn tool on the pupils and the lines around the iris and i used the dodge tool on the iris itself. 

This was my end result, my Loretta Lux style portrait.

I was very happy with it.

HDR

HDR, or High dynamic range imaging, is a set of methods in image making and photography to capture a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image. HDR images can represent, more accurately, the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, from direct sunlight to faint starlight, and is often captured by a plurality of differently exposed images of the same subject matter. This is called bracketing. Non-HDR cameras take pictures at one exposure level with a limited contrast range. This results in a loss of detail in both the light and dark areas of the image depending on whether the camera had a low or high exposure setting. However any camera that allows you to control the exposure setting can create a HDR image. HDR compensates for this loss of detail by taking multiple pictures at different exposure levels and intelligently stitching them together to produce a picture that is representative of both light and dark areas. 


I tried making a HDR image using just one image in photoshop and here is how i did it.

First I opened the image in photoshop, then i made an under exposed and over exposed version of the image. 

This was the over exposed image. 

Then I opened the images up in Adobe bridge and I Merged them to HDR using photoshop. 

I selected all three images, chose tools and selected 'Merge to HDR'.

The image didnt really work very well and this was my end result.

My end result wasn't the result i was looking for. I dont know what happened to this image.

I tried to do this with another image, and this was my process and result. 

I was very happy with my final result and i think it worked very well!

Split toning

Split toning is an effect which has its origins in the days of film. It involves tinting the highlights in a black and white image one colour, and the shadows another colour. The best results are when you use opposite colours for each, such as yellow and blue or green and magenta. 

To create the effect in the darkroom: There are many different ways to tone and image in the darkroom. I think the more professional way to do this is with toners such as sulphide and selenium. I think the most common way of toning in the darkroom is with stuff like tea bags where you simply run the bag over the image. This gives an almost sepia effect.

To create the effect digitally: To create the effect in Photoshop, start by converting the image (if not already) to greyscale. Do this by using a black and white filter or by turning down the saturation of the image. To create a split tone, use a colour adjustment layer as it lets you isolate the highlights and shadows in the image and apply different colours to each. Adjust the colour sliders until you reach your preferred effect. 

Here are some examples of split toning: 

Dodge and Burn

Dodging and Burning are terms used for techniques used during the printing process to manipulate the exposure of selected area(s) on a photographic print. In a darkroom print from a film negative, dodging decreases the exposure of areas that the photographer wishes to be lighter, while burning increases the exposure to areas of the print that should be darker. Any material with varying degrees of opacity can be used, as preferred, to cover and/or obscure the desired area for burning or dodging. One may use a transparency with text, designs, patterns, a stencil or a completely opaque material shaped according to the desired area of burning/dodging. Many modern digital image editing programs have 'dodge' and 'burn' tools that mimic the effect on digital images. 

Technique: By using a completely opaque material as a cover over the preferred area for dodging or burning will let absolutely no light pass through as a result and an outline of the material may be visible on the print. One way to prevent obvious cover up lines is to slightly shake the cover material over the area while it is being exposed. Another way to prevent obvious cover up lines is to use a slightly less opaque material which is closer to the outline of the area being covered to produce a more subtle, faded effect.

Burning: To burn-in a print, the print is first given a normal exposure. Next, extra exposure is given to the areas that need to be darkened. The preferred material is held between the enlarger and the photographic paper in a way as to add light only to certain parts of the image.

Dodging: The preferred material is held between the enlarger and the photographic paper in such a way as to block light from certain parts of the image that need to be lightened. 

Many photographers use the dodging and burning technique to level out the contrast in images. An example of this is lens flare, or adding a vignette. If part of an image is lighter or darker than the rest, a viewers eye can be drawn to that part of the image which might not be the photographers intent. 

Here are some examples of Dodging and Burning: 

Example of the process in the darkroom

Example of dodging and burning in the darkroom

Example of dodging and burning digitally