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About Me Premium Member Traditional Artist alberichMale/United States Recent Activity Deviant for 5 Years
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Reflections on Reflections Or Recursively Yours

Sun Sep 6, 2009, 8:49 PM
In which We Muse on the Nature of Nature

I keep getting asked how I *do* the reflections. There seems to be a common misapprehension that because I am forced to do quite a lot of retouching in PhotoShop that I am in fact manufacturing the reflections there.

Strictly speaking, this is not possible for a number of reasons, although I know many people do a quite credible job and no one seems to notice the difference.

But imagine holding a cup upside down over a mirror. (We're all more or less visually oriented people here, so I am not going to try to prove it with illustrations but if any of this is unclear go ahead and try it out literally.)

When you look down on the cup over the mirror you can see the bottom of the cup and the handle and presumably your hand holding it. And in the mirror you naturally see the inside of the cup and whatever part of the handle and your hand you can see is from a completely different angle.

So it should be pretty obvious that there's no way to manipulate the image of the bottom of the cup to give you an image of the inside.

Now hang the cup from a convenient string and start backing away. The further back you get, the smaller the angle between looking straight at it and looking at the reflection becomes, and the more similar the reflection becomes to a "flipped" version of the straight-on image.

Aha! That's it! We just have to portray the image as being far enough away so that the angles are too close to matter!

Well, yes and no. Consider a scene like the far side of a lake where we might want to create a rippled reflection which for some reason we don't already have in the picture. Because it's so far away, flipping each tree upside down and then wobbling the water a bit will be a reasonable rendering of the reflection. But as we come around the shore (which is not straight) the line which we need to reflect across curves down as it comes toward us. So simply grabbing the scene and flipping it vertically still doesn't work since the trees on the nearer side should not be flipped on the same line as the far shore (or their trunks will be partially missing). With a lot of continuous curved skewing (taking care that the verticals lines aren't bent over) you should be able to do it and then wobble the water for a nice effect.

But as far "creating" a closeup reflection of a model, you really can't synthesize it. In "The Waterbourne Girl" you can clearly see body parts (like her left hand) in the reflection that are not in the direct view. So there's no way to turn one into the other mechanically.

If you really need to create a realistic reflection just take two pictures while your model holds the pose: one directly and then a second, closer, looking down. Once you scale them to match you can warp the second one to get a believable image.

I think it's easier just to jump in the pool ...

Hopefully, you'll believe me now. If not I can't imagine anything else to say to convince you ...

-alberich

  • Mood: Artistic
  • Listening to: Jesse Cook (and GlaDOS)
  • Playing: Fallout(3)

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Devious Info

  • Current Residence: The Bay
  • Interests: sculpture, painting, photography
  • Favourite movie: To Have and Have Not (Bacall at 18)
  • Favourite artist: Michael Parkes, Maxfield Parrish, ~kalifla
  • Favourite poet or writer: Zelazny
  • Favourite style of art: Subtle Surreality
  • Favourite cartoon character: Ren
  • Personal Quote: My work is not stock. I have agreements with the models that allow me to distribute their images.
  • Tools of the Trade: Nikon D3, PS
http://www.valkyries.com

Comments


:iconk-cera:
I don't care how you do it.. I Love them.

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The only way out is within.
:iconblackdidthis:
I have so enjoyed your magical images decorating your gallery to the quality it was.
Not a single image that performed under any expectation should demand.

They were all, as stated; magical and technically perfect in how you have executed your vision.
I can't thank you enough for generously sharing such images with us.


Black

--
"I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life..."
Christopher Reeve

25 September 1952-10 October 2004
:iconthetube:
Fascinating gallery.

--
Just another brick in the wall
:icondaisy-branighan:
you're gallery is very beautiful ^^

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"In Fonk We Trust !" Jamie dupree :pirate: :granny: :skull:

Tu es francophone ? alors inscrit-toi sur #frenchconnexion pour partager tes oeuvres avec tout ceux qui parlent francais !
:iconjonathanjames:
people always look so mystical in water. like they returned to beccoming animals again i dig it. there is a photographer you need to know of if you dont, connie imboden. watch her video onher website about her and water. its very thought provoking.
:iconpintureiro:
I really admire your work. Thanks for sharing your art. Keep doing so wonderful pieces!
Cheers. ^__^

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[link]
:iconnornagesta:
Never seen anything quite like what you do. Fantastic.:)
:iconpicturehappy:
Wow, your work is incredible! Beautiful and hypnotic.. :)

--
A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know. -Diane Arbus-
:iconbarbieguitars:
Lovely gallery. If you ever need a model, I'm a freediver!

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