Photo tip: Flying objects and buzzing ideas
9.5.2020
We imagine floating objects, but instead Tom ends up falling into a hole. And that's a good thing. The story of a creative process.
Photography within your own four walls. Creating pictures with things lying around at home. That's the motto of the current photo series.
The latest idea: things from the home should no longer lie around, but float. This is the picture Tom wanted to recreate. It was taken by Hikichi Masatou and has been shortlisted as a winner in the "Creative" category at the Sony World Photography Awards 2019.
And this is what came out in the end.
Now that's not quite the same thing. Not to say: it has almost nothing in common with the original idea. Why am I showing you this picture instead of Tom's photos with floating kitchen objects?
Because it's the better picture - and because it shows how creative processes work. Namely, they are not straightforward and cannot be completely planned. Between the original idea and the final result lies a series of not entirely satisfactory attempts and ideas. However, these attempts on the way to the result were necessary. Without them, the final image could not have been created.
How the image montages work
In the images with floating objects, different shots from the same location and with the same settings are combined in Photoshop. One shot contains the room without objects. The other shots contain one or more floating objects that are held in the air with a nylon thread, for example.
It is important that these objects are photographed in the right place in the room. If you were to simply place them on a table and then mount them in the picture, the light would not be right. This would be immediately noticeable: Brightness, shadows, colour tones would be clearly different. The angle and proportions could also only be realistically corrected with great effort.
Mounting is also so much easier. The photo with the object has the same background as the photo without the object. Therefore, the outline does not have to be cut out exactly, a rough selection is sufficient.
First attempt: Give me the shoe
Tom floats shoes in the stairwell as a test run. He gives up on the nylon thread after the first pair of shoes and holds all the others in his hand. Because the shoes suspended from the thread are constantly spinning.
Of course, Tom cuts himself out. He also makes sure that he doesn't cover the visible side of the shoe with his fingers.
Already during the shoot, Tom doesn't have a good feeling and isn't enjoying himself. That's how it turns out. Although the shoes were actually shot in the room, they look like they've been edited in. At least that's what I think. One possible reason is the backlighting and the fact that the objects don't cast any shadows. The striking blue colour of one pair of shoes is also distracting, and I suspect that Tom photographed all the shoes twice out of sheer convenience.
Second attempt: kitchen knife
Now something that is supposedly closer to the original: floating knives in the kitchen. Tom sticks the small set-up knife to a bread knife using Patafix. This allows him to place it in the room without covering it with fingers.
So Tom picks up the same knife several times. Only afterwards does he realise that at least the lower knives should be reflected in the cooker. To save some time, he doesn't cut out the reflections, but copies the knives and inserts them as reflections in the cooker. However, there is something wrong with the reflection on the right.
Tom is not happy because the blades are not aligned regularly. I think you could do a little trick with Photoshop. Something else bothers me. The objects do float, but in a completely unnatural way. Even in a weightless room, such an arrangement could never be created.
But maybe I'm just struggling with the picture because it looks so different from Masatou's. Everything there is messy and dirty. In Tom's picture, on the other hand, there is strict order and clinical cleanliness.
Third attempt: Duplo bomb
Because I think that disorganisation goes better with floating objects than order, I come up with the idea of trying something with children's toys in the nursery. I have a picture in mind that looks like a bomb has gone off.
Tom has made several attempts with children's toys. This is the one we both like best:
Here Tom made sure that the shadows are clearly visible. That's why the flash was fired from above, through a softbox. This is important for the spatial effect.
Tom also uses Patafix here. The larger animals are attached to a semi-transparent biros, while a paper clip is sufficient for the small stones.
Despite all the dynamics, this is not untidy. I would have liked a less clean background. But maybe I'm just too fixated on the original image.
An idea takes off
Despite further attempts, Tom doesn't take off. But there's another idea floating around: I suggest that Tom should mount himself in the picture as a floating astronaut to support the idea of weightless space. I was half joking, but to my surprise, Tom wants to give it a go.
Even that doesn't lead anywhere at first. After a lengthy creative block, Tom remembers the hoverboard from "Back to the Future". He places his skateboard on a chair, which he removes in Photoshop. Of course, he takes the background image without the chair.
While he's at it, Tom tries a few air jumps at random. Luckily not the "Woman jumps into the air with her arms outstretched and then says something about joie de vivre and mindfulness in string lettering next to it." Other jumps. Underground car park jumps.
Only when looking at it on the computer does Tom realise that one of the jump images works well when it is rotated 90 degrees. The entrance to the garage becomes a hole into which Tom falls. The posture matches. To reinforce the illusion of a shaft, Tom copies the dark side and mirrors it on the other edge of the picture.
Give creativity a chance
In the end, we didn't achieve what we wanted, but something else that we're happy with. As a professional, this approach is rather unusual for Tom. Normally, he has a job that he has to complete. He can't simply reinterpret the job completely. In his private life, however, this is possible and is very conducive to creativity.
In our photo tips, we therefore deliberately do not give instructions in the style of a cookery recipe. They are general suggestions and examples of how you could do it. Don't copy things one-to-one, you'll rarely succeed. Find your own twist. You'll come up with new ideas on your own when taking photos. This may take you far away from your original intention. But you give creativity a chance to find you.
David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
