The making of “please, please set me free.”

This was my first real, conceptual, super-edited picture. I was still adapting to Photoshop but I was able to create an incredibly surreal shot. The couch, however, was added later and isn’t on my Flickr version. Anyway, Here’s the magic behind it:

I used three pictures for this shot. The first photo simply consisted of me standing like an awkward moron, holding a picture frame with one hand, and reaching towards a vase of fake flowers with the other.

Editing my hand off the picture frame was one of the hardest parts. I ended up copying a segment from the opposite side of the picture frame, flipping it, and pasting it over where my hand would be.

I edited out my body using Healing Brush and Patch tools. The editing wasn’t perfect, but adding a texture at the end helped cover the imperfection and create a mood for the photo. I chose to make my body black and white so it could look in place next to the two other black and white photographs.

The second photo I used was one of me holding up a separate picture. I wanted to include a picture on both sides of me, but the spot where I took the picture only had one. I was lucky to find this old framed one in a back room, and I held it where I wanted it, trying to show the least bit of hand that I could. I edited out my hand and the flash reflection, and then I cut it out and pasted it onto my first photo.

The last picture was one taken in a completely different room. After I completed my image for the first time, I decided there was too empty of a space where my body had previously been. I took a picture of my couch, and did my best to cut it out (with a tad bit being unsuccessful). I edited the color because the original tan blended in with the tan walls. After that, I warped the perspective slightly to give the couch a similar angle to that of the side table, to make the photo more look more believable.

I was really content with my end result. The tricks and tools of Photoshop are inspiring me to create surreal images more often than before.