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Challenge: Infinite III (Standard Editing)
Collection: Portfolio
Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR
Date: Aug 27, 2025
Date Uploaded: Aug 28, 2025
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Title is from a quote from Mark Z. Danielewski. The full quote is "Through all the windows I only see infinity."
When I saw the challenge theme, I did not notice it wasn't for DPL. But I immediately got this idea and set out to create it. I often entered challenges just to try out some new technique, or figure out how to create the image in my head. This was one of those challenges. And as I have in the past, spent too much $ buying stuff to make it happen.
First I got some 12x12 mirror tiles, but wasn't sure what the mirror placements should be. I first tried a triangle (like a kaleidoscope), or dressing room mirrors. That's when I came upon my first obstacle: I could get the "infinite" effect, but couldn't do it without me in the reflection.
Back to the internet to get some ideas, and it turns out the effect is best with just 2 mirrors facing each other. Of course, that did not solve the "my face in the shot" issue. More searching and the answer was the obvious: a 2 way mirror. Called around and found a glass store not too far from me that had what I needed.
Another issue I had to resolve was how to keep them vertical. And for this I used a cardboard box. I stuck one mirror against the back, and then placed the 2 way between it and me. I had to play around with placements and angles to get the greatest amount of reflections, and that nice curving slope into the distance. I used one strobe to light the bottle. Then I cut out a "window" on the side of the box closest to me to shoot through. Which then revealed several other issues: There was light spill on the foreground, which showed up as a magenta stripe across the bottom of the image. And I could see the edge of my cutout. And I could still see me because of light leak.
So I cut out more of the box. And I covered myself and the edge of the box with a dark cloth like an old-timey photographer, and that solved almost all the problems. I had to switch modifiers to a snoot, and fiddle with the light focus, but eventually, this shot happened.
Excitedly, I began processing, which is when I discovered the magical quality mirrors have of attracting dust... Much time was spent cloning. Processing was pretty straightforward (after all the cloning). The sides of the box were too bright and orange, so I had to darken and desaturate them (note for future attempts: coat the inside of the box with black). I cloned out lines to make it a smoother path to infinity. Then just a few filters and darken/lighten center.
I'm pretty chuffed with it. I hope you are, too. |
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