How to Get Started in Doing Trick Photography

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Develop a theme.

   Photos with a theme are always better than random clicks.
   
   Thus, it's important that you have a clear idea of what message you'd like to convey to your audience.
   
   The theme can be anything from abstract daily life, current issues, to love and emotions.
   
   Make you sure you have something in mind before you begin the planning for the shoot.
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   Step 2: Once a theme has been finalized

   This is one of the most important steps in making a trick photo.
   
   Just make a mental image of the photo; or, if the image is complex, take a piece of paper and draw whatever you think your final image should look like. ,, A trick photo usually contains more than one photo.
   
   Each photo is then either blended together, or parts of it are placed smartly to give the look of a single original photo.
   
   This means that you have to take as many photos as it takes to get your final image to look as realistic as possible. , Once you finish the shoot, you cannot go back later and do it again because the light, location and mood will change and it won't match the previously taken shots. , You may have taken a lot of pictures; from these, select the ones which you are going to use to make the final image. , There are several ways to do this, including:
   Long exposure (single photo) Photo manipulation (a group of photos) Photo stitching, etc. , For example, to create the image of a man flying:
   Take a photo with a man pretending to fly, supported by a stool under him.
   
   Take another picture with no man or stool, just the background.
   
   While editing the images, place the first image on top of the second.
   
   Carefully erase the stool; the background from the second image will fill the erased spot, resulting in it seeming as if you have taken a photo of a man flying.
   
   Similarly you can also add parts from other images into this image and make it even trickier, like adding clouds, a bird or an aeroplane to its background to give a feel of flying in the sky. ,, This is very important so as to present the right mood, and bring the focus on the subject. ,,
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   Step 3: plan how the photo should look.

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   Step 4: Proceed with shooting the photo.

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   Step 5: Understand what a trick photo involves.

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   Step 6: Make sure you take all the essential photos at the same time (same lighting

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   Step 7: location

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   Step 8: etc.).

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   Step 9: Select the best images.

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    Step 10: Make the trick photo.

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    Step 11: Follow the steps required in your respective method of photo.

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    Step 12: Refer to online tutorials for post processing techniques to create trick images.

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    Step 13: Fix such things as brightness

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    Step 14: contrast

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    Step 15: toning

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    Step 16: shadows

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    Step 17: Remember that on viewing a good trick photo

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    Step 18: the person should not be able to tell where the manipulations start and end; he/she should not be able to tell how it was done and should be totally amused if you have used the correct techniques and proper composition.

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    Step 19: Keep practicing and you'll have some new ideas to shoot on and create more wonderful trick photos.

Detailed Guide

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