This time of year there are lots of packages arriving by mail. When a package arrives, everyone is either trying to squirrel it away before being seen or they are trying to catch a glimpse of what someone else is hiding. We are ridiculous about this.
A couple days ago a box arrived when I was home alone. It wasn’t addressed to me, and I swear I wasn’t purposefully snooping. I swear. But it wasn’t double boxed and it was obviously a light box (Big label on the side gave it away). I know it is meant for me… but regardless, I’m playing cool. Like I don’t know.
BUT… I am sooo excited about this and I can’t wait to try out some new photography!
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Did you read the story about how to hack an old printer into a lightbox in the last issue of P+V?
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It was completely inspired by these shots by Ngoc Minh Ngo. I think they are magical and I want to experiment with creating some of my own.
Playing with backlight – achieved in a variety of ways, but most commonly by placing plants and flowers on an actual light box in order to illuminate them and create a transparency effect – is about to be my newest side hobby.
Artist Harold Davis has some tips for shooting plants and flowers on a lightbox box and then transforming the images through some post-processing into something magical. It sounds a little complicated according to his directions and I am hoping it isn’t as tricky as it sounds. Otherwise I am on my own to experiment and figure out a technique that creates something I am happy with. I’ll share if I can.
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Have you tried photographing transparent items like this? I’d love to hear your tips if you have any…. after Christmas, of course.
Images by Ngoc Minh Ngo
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