Photographing stuff that’s not there by using stencils
posted Mar 23rd 2011 8:21am by Mike Szczysfiled under: digital cameras hacks
This image was not made in post production, but captured during a long camera exposure. The method uses stencils to add components to a picture. [Alex] built a jig for his camera from a cardboard box. This jig positions a large frame in front of the camera lens where a printed stencil can be inserted. He printed two identical sheets of paper with black covering the area all around the 8-bit joggers. When properly aligned and inserted in the jig, the black parts of the stencil will act to mask the areas where he wants to capture the natural surroundings of the image. Once the camera shutter is triggered, he uses a flash to illuminated the stencil, then removes the the paper image from the jig and ambient light from the dark surrounding is captured during the remainder of the 20-30 second exposure time. The real trick is getting the light levels between the flash and the ambient light to balance and produce a result like the one seen above.
Is anyone else hearing the Punch Out cut-scene music in their heads right about now?
Wow, this takes “light drawings” to a new level! You could use the screen of a mobile device to get the characters and just mask the rest of the screen with modeling clay or blu-tack, and use a box with a screen sized hole to blank the rest of the scene. Then turn off the screen or put some card in front, and remove the box while it captures the background. Quite difficult to get the timing right though.
You could put realistic objects in the scene, or photos of people to make it look like they are materializing.