This one was achieved as a technical challenge: nothing was pre-printed, all the eyes visible through the keyholes are actual 'live' captures.
Here is how it was done:
1) First, my wife and I designed the cardboard used in the foreground: keyholes have been cut out, then a part of the 'Letter of a Madman' from Maupassant was written on it. We also textured it with some ashes and mud, to give it a grainy and grungy aspect.
2) The camera was put on a tripod, and the cardboard was suspended in front of it. We also constructed small "doors" using black paper, in order to be able to close or open any of the keyhole at will.
3) At this point, all the lights in the room have been shut down, and the shutter has been opened (bulb mode).
4) First, I manually adjusted the focus on the '3 meters' mark, and took place behind the biggest keyhole, which have been opened. My wife used a remote to start the strobes that I had prepared, thus exposing me on the camera sensor.
5) Then, the 'door' of the biggest keyhole was shut. I adjusted the focus to about 0.7 meters, opened another 'door', adjusted the position of the strobes, and exposed my eyes trough the opening as my wife launched another burst of strobe using a remote.
6) I repeated the process for the 16 keyholes.
7) Finally, I did some frontal light painting, in order to expose the frontal cardboard itself.
Total exposure time = 707 seconds (i.e. 11min47sec).
A funny way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
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kudos on the result. one thing i notice - that might make this even more twisted of an illusion. altering the angle of the lights hitting the inside edges of the keyholes. that might make the foreground appear to be twisted and bent. i mean - so the depth of the keyholes is more obvious in all of them, but the light is hitting the depth from different directions. you can see in the main three the inside edge of the keyholes is lit from the same direction. make sense ?
Question for you: Was your strobe behind the cardboard then?
Yes, absolutely, you got it right. Which is why I only exposed the front of the cardboard once, at the end of the process, in order to minimize ghosting. Thanks for your kind comment!
Question for you: Was your strobe behind the cardboard then? Otherwise, how does the cardboard not get exposed in a funky way? (Just trying to figure it out. I've wanted to do the dark room, multiple strobe thing for awhile. I've done it with still lifes, but never real lifes. :)
As always, thanks so incredibly much for sharing your information!! You're willingness to explain things is sooo greatly appreciated. I've learned a lot from you!
Congrats on the ribbon. When I read your notes I realized that this really deserved the blue. I thought that the figures were pre-printed, but what you actually did is very clever and done to technical perfection.
Very imaginative and pure brilliant idea and very well executed indeed. Thank you for the detailed explanation on how you achieved this - much appreciated.
It was my favourite even before reading the description, but now... unbelievable!
A question: the light on the eyes comes only from the long exposure or there's something else?
ETA: I watched it once again - of course your eyes have been lit with a light source coming from the right of frame (your left)
Thanks a lot Alessandro. Yes, I triggered a flash 15 times, to "freeze" an eye behind each keyhole. Between each flash, the room was dark, and I had to position my face appropriately in front of the next hole.
Congratulations on another tour de force entry. Being able to recognise you in the image I knew that this would be legal. Some people obviously thought otherwise, and that has probably cost you the blue.
Thank you for your continuing inspiration.
Good grief you have done it again... and this time using skills behind the camera (or cardboard) and not just in PS. Another brilliant show of a wonderful masterful understanding of light and hard work!
Well done
I always look forward to your post on how you plan and execute your set up, how detailed you get, and how much effort you put into each photo. It is amazing. Thanks
Paranoia Room
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