I traveled to White Sands Nationwide Park for the primary time. Magnificent location! I introduced alongside my crystal ball to make some floating object pictures. The crystal ball is ideal for any such work. Discover ways to create this photograph under.
White Sands Nationwide Park
This beautiful location showcases gypsum flakes piled in mounds that undulate throughout the horizon. Making photographs there requires opening up your shutter at the very least one, perhaps two stops above what your digicam tells you is the “correct” publicity. Your digicam meter is definitely fooled on this white wonderland. White Sands is a little bit of an anomaly in that gypsum which is left behind when water evaporates often will get washed out via rivers to the ocean, because it simply dissolves in water. Sufficient of the geology lesson. Let me present you the way I created this picture.
Ideas on taking pictures the crystal
A low angle helps on this case and a Platypod eXtreme Plate with a small Benro ball head was simply the ticket. I positioned the crystal on the small crystal stand that comes with it. Notice that it is advisable focus contained in the ball and the topic will seem the wrong way up.
Warning! Remember that the crystal WILL FOCUS THE SUN! Watch your fingers. In case you are working in full solar you may get burned. By no means depart the crystal uncovered close to a window at dwelling, in your digicam bag or in your automotive. It really works as a magnifying glass and will begin a hearth.
Host picture and composite
For a composite akin to this I {photograph} the background scene as a separate publicity and depart plenty of foreground. After processing the ball picture, I extract it. Be certain that the extraction will work seamlessly in your remaining picture by feathering the perimeters. The ball photograph is the wrong way up. The Rework instrument is used to rotate it to an upright orientation.
Promoting the impact
Put up processing helps promote the thought of the floating ball. Watch the perimeters of the crystal as they replicate what they “see.” On this case, I needed to take away the blue of the mirrored sky and the brown of the sand after the rotation.
Moreover, I construct a drop shadow. One trick is to make use of Photoshop’s Drop Shadow within the fx menu to create the shadow. Then go to the Layer Menu > Layer Type > Create Layer. The drop shadow, now by itself layer, makes it potential to rework and manipulate for the correct look. Lastly, use a Gentle Mild Layer and subtly paint within the shadow aspect of the ball to extend the obvious roundness.
Do all the above, and voila! The ball is floating within the scene.
Gear used
Yours in Inventive Images, Bob
