In the Press
Mail Online 1st June 2011
Up in smoke: The stunning images created by incense sticks and mirrors
By Lee Moran
Smoke and mirrors have long been the preserve of magicians.
But one amateur photographer has taken advantage of the concept to produce these stunning images.
Jay Payne makes the extraordinary pictures using incense sticks, his camera and Photoshop – all in the comfort of his own living room.
Mind Control Stage 2
Smoke and mirrors: Jay Payne’s photographs are created in his living room
Phoenix
Clown
Spooky: Faces can sometimes be seen in the photographs as a result of an effect that replicated the process of putting a mirror next to the smoke
Fire
Mystic Tortoise
Bold and Beautiful: Jay Payne darkens his living room, and lights and incense stick to create these pictures
Jay, from Burnley in Lancashire, darkens his living room and lights an incense stick to create the pictures, setting up his ordinary digital SLR camera and using a manual flash.
He then mirrors the images in Photoshop – a graphics editing program – before adding the colours in to pick out the details of the picture better from the black background.
Tigerfalls
Photoshop: Jay Payne uses computer software to mirror the image and add in colours
The 36-year-old’s pictures pick out images from the smoke from nowhere, with little manipulation.
Faces can be seen in the middle of the mirrored images that have been produced just by an effect that replicates the process of putting a mirror next to the smoke.
Out of nowhere: Jay Payne’s pictures pick out images from the smoke, seemingly from nowhere
