Blog

16
Aug

The orange wall and the white dress

The Exposing Illusions blog has always been an important part of my photography journey; so much so that I spent years researching and planning it before I even wrote a single word. Every one of my conceptual photos has been created to demonstrate the photography technique I am learning and teaching that week. But sometimes […]

9
Aug

How to create snow in Photoshop.

While it’s currently the height of summer in the only hemisphere that (supposedly) matters, where I live in Australia it’s so cold that the state I live in saw snow for the first time in 30 years. When faced with the prospect of driving 2.5 hours to photograph said snow OR hibernating under blankets, I […]

12
Jul

How to create the dispersion / scatter effect with Photoshop.

Photoshop brushes are a brilliant way to add interest to your photos but did you know you can use brushes on layer masks? Say, for example, you want to create a bird made of fire, you could take a picture of fire, add a black layer mask to it and then using a bird-shaped brush […]

5
Jul

Fortnightly posts

Hello friends! I’ve made the painstaking decision to move from weekly to fortnightly posts. I always intended the blog to be fortnightly but I got a little overexcited in the early days.I plan to spend the extra time working on business aspects of my photography (meeting a printer this week!), upskilling, doing more on-location shooting and really […]

28
Jun

How to use and create Photoshop brushes.

One of Photoshop’s coolest features is the ability to customise and import different brushes. Until now you might only have used Photoshop’s standard round brush to paint masks that hide and reveal layers. But if you spend some time with the brush panels you’ll discover that using different brushes not only makes your work easier but will give […]

21
Jun

Takin’ a break

Hi everyone I’ve decided to take a break from the blog this week to catch up on the business side of things. Here’s a sneak peek of next week’s image which I’m really excited about!

19
Apr

How to lengthen a dress and hair in Photoshop.

  A few week’s ago armed with my camera, my mother (who was convinced I was going to get murdered) and a $20 piece of fabric I disappeared into a forest to try and build a dress. But we got there too early and the sun was all wrong and I had to shoot all […]

12
Apr

How to photograph floating objects.

Telekenesis seems to me to be the lazy person’s superpower of choice—which is probably why it’s my favourite. Inspired by Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ I spent many hours as a child trying to make things move by the force of my mind alone but sadly gravity always won the battle. Now, with the power of Photoshop […]

5
Apr

How to do levitation photography.

I was up in the air about how to start this blog post but then I realised that’s a terrible joke and decided to get on with it. The easiest and most effective trick you can do with photography and a touch of Photoshop magic is to make someone levitate, float or fly. Photos that […]

8
Mar

How to shoot and edit the Brenizer Method (aka bokehrama, frame expansion, panorama).

The majority of people with a functioning camera will at some point have snapped a panoramic photo—a process that involves swivelling the body from side to side while taking a series of photos to capture the full range of a scene so beautiful it can’t be contained. (That last bit felt like it needed to […]