Top 10 Tips for Taking the Best Trick Photography Photos - Tricks Photography
Equipment used
When it comes to trick photography, most people think of forced perspective. No doubt you'll have seen pictures of people pushing the leaning tower of pisa with their hands or holding one of their friends in the palm of their hands. These are forced perspective pictures, and add a great sense of fun and humour to any subject matter you're trying to photograph. So toy around with different variations on this trick to get some funny pictures.
Trick Photography and Special Effects is a 190 page e-Book. This e-book is made so it's easy to understand whether you are a beginner, advanced or a working professional. It's well thought out with literally hundreds of real examples and real photos taken by photographers for photographers. You can open this book on almost any page and get engrossed in topics that are fun to do and at the same time learn more about what we love doing, which is photography. I love it because even though it's very detailed it also re-ignites your creativity with new ideas and new techniques. There is something in it for everybody who is into photography.
This is actually very important for light paintings because you don't want to see the "painter" in the photo. The illusion of light trails appearing or hovering around your subject without any clues as to what made it just make the picture that bit more magical.
4. Nothing wrong with getting in close
Light painting is a unique trick photography technique which involves the photographer making some exposures by moving his camera or his hand-held light-source. This technique was first used by Frank Gilbreth and his wife in 1914. Frank Gilbreth used an open camera's shutter and some small light sources to trace the motion of various clerical and manufacturing employees. However, Man Ray is actually the first art photographer to use light painting in his 1935 series the "Space writing". The results are so mesmerizing that even today we still find many photographers finding new creative uses for this technique.
The one consistent element that makes a photograph interesting are people. We just like to look at ourselves or other people. This applies to trick photography as well, whether it's levitation, forced perspective, light paintings, and more. Being able to extract the best out of people and put them in fantastical situations are what makes trick photography so mentally stimulating. So here are some great ideas for you to incorporate into your trick photography photos to take it from good to great.
A tripod can also come in handy, especially when long exposure-times are involved. You can also place your camera on a solid support like a table when you do not have a tripod. Make sure you always have your shutter release cable or a self-timer to help you reduce camera shake. To improve the quality of your trick photography or change the mood in your paintings you can use a color gel to color your light sources as well.
3. Don't get caught unprepared
8. Capture natural reactions or not
Light paintings are one of the more stunning examples of long exposure trick photography. You're literally painting with light. You use a camera to take a long exposure photograph, and then move a bright light source around it. Also, just like a magic trick, consider this a spoiler warning if you want to continue to be baffled by how light paintings are made.
This technique involves you selectively illuminating various parts of your subject using your light source or painting an image by shining it into the camera's lens directly. This trick photography technique needs a slow-shutter-speed of about a second or even more. A good example of this technique is Picasso's light drawings series which he did after being visited by Mili Gjon, a lighting innovator and photographer in 1949. Milli introduced Picasso to his photographs of various ice skaters who had some light sources attached to the skates. Picasso created this pictures in-the-air using a small flash-light in his dark-room. "Picasso draws a centaur in the air" is one of his famous and most celebrated photographs from his light drawings.
When it comes to trick photography, most people think of forced perspective. No doubt you'll have seen pictures of people pushing the leaning tower of pisa with their hands or holding one of their friends in the palm of their hands. These are forced perspective pictures, and add a great sense of fun and humour to any subject matter you're trying to photograph. So toy around with different variations on this trick to get some funny pictures.
Trick Photography and Special Effects is a 190 page e-Book. This e-book is made so it's easy to understand whether you are a beginner, advanced or a working professional. It's well thought out with literally hundreds of real examples and real photos taken by photographers for photographers. You can open this book on almost any page and get engrossed in topics that are fun to do and at the same time learn more about what we love doing, which is photography. I love it because even though it's very detailed it also re-ignites your creativity with new ideas and new techniques. There is something in it for everybody who is into photography.
This is actually very important for light paintings because you don't want to see the "painter" in the photo. The illusion of light trails appearing or hovering around your subject without any clues as to what made it just make the picture that bit more magical.
4. Nothing wrong with getting in close
Light painting is a unique trick photography technique which involves the photographer making some exposures by moving his camera or his hand-held light-source. This technique was first used by Frank Gilbreth and his wife in 1914. Frank Gilbreth used an open camera's shutter and some small light sources to trace the motion of various clerical and manufacturing employees. However, Man Ray is actually the first art photographer to use light painting in his 1935 series the "Space writing". The results are so mesmerizing that even today we still find many photographers finding new creative uses for this technique.
The one consistent element that makes a photograph interesting are people. We just like to look at ourselves or other people. This applies to trick photography as well, whether it's levitation, forced perspective, light paintings, and more. Being able to extract the best out of people and put them in fantastical situations are what makes trick photography so mentally stimulating. So here are some great ideas for you to incorporate into your trick photography photos to take it from good to great.
A tripod can also come in handy, especially when long exposure-times are involved. You can also place your camera on a solid support like a table when you do not have a tripod. Make sure you always have your shutter release cable or a self-timer to help you reduce camera shake. To improve the quality of your trick photography or change the mood in your paintings you can use a color gel to color your light sources as well.
3. Don't get caught unprepared
8. Capture natural reactions or not
Light paintings are one of the more stunning examples of long exposure trick photography. You're literally painting with light. You use a camera to take a long exposure photograph, and then move a bright light source around it. Also, just like a magic trick, consider this a spoiler warning if you want to continue to be baffled by how light paintings are made.
This technique involves you selectively illuminating various parts of your subject using your light source or painting an image by shining it into the camera's lens directly. This trick photography technique needs a slow-shutter-speed of about a second or even more. A good example of this technique is Picasso's light drawings series which he did after being visited by Mili Gjon, a lighting innovator and photographer in 1949. Milli introduced Picasso to his photographs of various ice skaters who had some light sources attached to the skates. Picasso created this pictures in-the-air using a small flash-light in his dark-room. "Picasso draws a centaur in the air" is one of his famous and most celebrated photographs from his light drawings.