Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-07-04)

32 http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

K

aleidograph is
a name I have
invented for a
technique I first
saw demonstrated in the days
before digital. Using film,
it was a difficult process to
master. In the digital age, it’s
a doddle. As a starting point,
there are two simple processes
to learn, needing only an
elementary grasp of Photoshop.

Copy, flip and paste
Choose a suitable picture, rotate
it 45° and crop a square section
out of the centre. Call this
segment 1 and copy it. Open a
new document, adjust the
canvas size to twice the width
and height of segment 1 and
paste that segment in the top
left corner. Copy segment 1
again, flip it horizontally to
make segment 2 and paste that
beside segment 1. Copy segment
2, flip that vertically to make
segment 3 and place it beneath
segment 2. Copy segment 3, flip
it horizontally to make segment
4 and place it beside segment 3
and below segment 1. This will
have automatically created four
layers on one background, so
flatten the layers. You’ve just
made your first kaleidograph.

Twist, flip and paste
Copy any kaleidograph you

Joh n Wade

Regular AP contributor John is best

known for his classic camera articles,

but occasionally he comes over to the

dark side and dabbles with digital.

Find him at http://www.johnwade.org

ALL

PICTURES

©

JOHN

WADE

Technique PHOTOSHOP SKILLS

Creative

kaleidographs

With a little Photoshopknow-how youcantransform

your photographsintoabstractworksofart.Joh nWa de

shows you how tocreateyourown kaleidographs

havemadewiththeabove

techniqueandpasteit intoa

newsame-sizedocument.

Opentheperspectivetool,grab

thehandlethatappearsatthe

topleftoftheimageanddistort

it bydraggingthehandleall

thewaytotheright.Thiswill

turnyourimageintoa kindof

‘egg-timer’shapeona separate

background.Copythatshape,

flipit 90°andfillthe

backgroundwithit.Usethe

distorttooltomakesmall

adjustmentsuntilit fitsand

fillstheavailablespace.Flatten

theimage.Nowyou’vemadea

secondtypeofa kaleidograph.

Repeattheprocess

Bothoftheseprocessescan

beusedasthebasisforeven

furthermanipulation.Instead

ofstartingwitha normal

imageforthefirstversion

kaleidoscope,youcan,for

example,useanalready

createdkaleidographasyour

startingpointandrepeatthe

processesalloveragain.

Themoreyoudoit,themore

abstractthedesignbecomes,

creatingunexpectedandoften

beautifulimagesthatseemto

materialisefromnowhere.See

moreideasonpage 34 totake

thingsevenfurther.

HOW TO MAKE A KALEIDOGRAPH

1. Original picture
   2. Rotated and
   segment 1 identified
   
   
   1. Original picture
   
   
   2. Perspective
      distortion applied
   
   
   3. First kaleidograph created