optical illusion photography

As you are probably aware, I love to experiment with my photography and try new things. Recently, I was given the opportunity to play with optical illusion photography.

Seeing things differently

One of the challenges in my 52-frames project for August 23 was to create an “upside down” image. For extra credit, we could create an optical illusion. I decided to embrace this challenge full-on!

An image that you would have seen on the internet is where you rotate the eyes and mouth of your subject when their face is presented upside down. Here is my attempt at this image.

On first inspection, it doesn’t look that strange. However, It is not until you turn it around that the trick becomes obvious.

How to create optical illusion photography!

If you have some basic editing skills, this image is relatively simple to create. Firstly, I took a self-portrait. I kept the light in front of me to minimise the shadows. I felt like excess shadows would ruin the illusion.

Next, in Photoshop I duplicated the image and rotated it by 180 degrees. I then copied my eyes and mouth from the original image and pasted them onto the upside portrait. I blended these selections, removing the hard lines, into the other image using a mask.

Finally, I converted to black and white with some colour toning.

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Sara Sadler

Photographer

I am a fine art photographer based in the South of England. I enjoy sharing my photographic adventures, hints and tips.

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sarasadlerphotography.co.uk