Faux UFO

Challenge #25 in the Travel and Sports series. Hosted by bikinchris.

Challenge has finished

We have all seen fake UFO shots. Some of them are pretty convincing. This is your challenge. Make the best UFO shot that you can. Make it look as real or silly as you want. Best or most fun in the mind of the voters wins.

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Announced:

Friday, 9th September, 2011 (GMT)

Submissions:

Friday, 16th September, 2011 – Thursday, 22nd September, 2011 (GMT)

Voting:

Friday, 23rd September, 2011 – Thursday, 29th September, 2011 (GMT)

Processing rules:

No photo illustrations. Images must be based on a real photo. Other than being based on a real photo, you can use any post processing you want.

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

You must have a voting history to enter this challenge. No minimum number of votes, though..

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

120

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12 entries

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228 votes

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Futurescape

by Graeme Davidson

2^nd place

3.539

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Camera:	Nikon D3X
Lens:
Submitted:	Saturday, 17th September, 2011 10:00 (GMT)
Taken:	Saturday, 22nd January, 2011
Focal length:
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ISO:
Notes:
Views:	281
Galleries:	View this photo in Graeme Davidson's gallery

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Entry comments

Total comments: 13

Apologies, Angelo for getting your username wrong.

Graeme

0 upvotes

Thank you bibilo57 and jmgir!

Jmgir, I've looked into the reflection some more but canot replicate what you are seeing. If I take a foot square mirror, place it horizontal about a foot in front of me and hold a phone a foot above it in the same orientation as the craft, I see the underside of the phone and it's pointing into the picture like I have on the entry.

If you would like me to, I can temporarily put an image in my gallery that shows it as you describe but it looks wrong to me. Let me know if you'd like to see it done that way - I'm happy to oblige!

Graeme

0 upvotes

If the phone is horizontal yes, but if the right end is pointing up the reflection will be pointing down. If the end is pointing down the reflection points up and eventually will meet on the surface if you increase the angle. Now what it is that I do wrong...

0 upvotes

I set up a paper aeroplane over a mirror to replicate the angles in the picture but still the reflection points into the picture.

I took a snapshot of the setup and uploaded to the galleries at

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/7368037848/photos/1436703/perspective-check

It must be one of my worst photos ever published :o)

It shows how the reflection looks and it does still point into the picture. As I mentioned in an earlier post, once objects get any distance above the reflecting surface the reflections are actually a completely different view of the craft - the underside from an angle - and not a true inversion.

All the best,

Graeme

0 upvotes

Jmgir - one thing I have definitely got wrong... the diamond shape the engines are on should certainly be angled down to point out of the frame but the pointed end of the craft stil points into the picture. I tried to correct the reflection but it needs a complete redraw since a simple inversion makes the pointed end of the craft point out of the picture.

Reflections are tricky things!

--
Graeme

0 upvotes

Jmgir; I decided to redraw the reflection. You can see it at

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/7368037848/photos/1436788/futurescape-2

The back of the craft's diamond now points down out of the frame and I've added a water effect. It's still not that realistic though, but that's my fault :o)

--
Graeme

0 upvotes

First I had the geometry of the ship wrong, the pointed end to me was the front, not the back of the ship, but it doesn't matter for whatt we are doing. I looked at your plane and can see the reflection of the belly as you would if you rotated the plane 180 degrees up, as I was saying before but now with the water reflections of the ship we can't see it so it's very good. With your finger, lift the nose of the paper plane and look at the reflection in the mirror, the plane and its reflection won't be parallel.

0 upvotes

Thank you jmgir. I wish I could have rendered the reflection in a way that looks spot on to me but I literally have to modify all the shapes just to rotate the craft reflection on its centre. A standard rotation turned the rocket trails too, upsetting the appearance.

Wish I had a better eye for it! I take my hat off to 3D illustrators that can do this kind of thing instinctively :o)

All the best,

Graeme

0 upvotes

I like your image, Graeme, very creative.
Angelo

0 upvotes

This was my preferred image, I agree with Jorge that the pointed end should be facing down but I didn't noticed until Jorge mentioned it.

0 upvotes

Take a mirror, I just did, and place an object on top of it an look at the reflection, it would rotate the object 180 degrees down lift up the rounded part and lower the pointed part.

0 upvotes

Thank you Jorge!

When this image was created a while back, the reflection came into debate on another forum. You can see an example of the refection inverted on that forum but that didn't look quite right either!

You can see the thread at http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?49722-Futuristic-collage&highlight=

Let me know if the inverted version on that thread looks more natural.

As a thought experiment - if the UFO were to be substituted by a bridge, would the reflection point out of the frame? I think the UFO reflection is a complex issue in that it is not an inverson that is required but a complete redraw of the object as seen from a different angle dictated by the viewer position and height of the craft above the water. I definitely fudged an approximation on this drawing though :o)

Graeme

0 upvotes

It looks nice, but you forgot to invert the reflection on the water(the pointy end should be reflected as pointing out of the frame and not into it as it's shown), you did a good job at reducing the opacity of the reflection, but to add credibility to the image instead of pasting the ufo, it had to be inverted and then add some vertical smudge to the reflection to mimic what the water is doing to the lights.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 13

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