After noticing that Corn looked like Skyscrapers, my mom asked if I could help her create a series of tiny world portraits of my 8-month old pregnant sister and her husband. My sister is a pretty adventurous lady but since the lockdowns began, we’ve been all trapped… so we decided to give her an adventure from the comforts of our own home!
I posted the video on Tik Tok and unexpectedly, it blew up with over 3M views in less than a week.
Step 1: Capture silhouettes by shooting against a white background.
My mom was in charge of experimenting with fruits and vegetables. In this case, she picked the inside of Pomegranates!
The reflections in the background were created with a massive flower vase almost as tall as my mom.
Step 2: Edit, print, and cut out the silhouettes by hand.
The little silhouettes were stuck onto thin pieces of wire. We used scraps of wood that my mom found while walking in the park. We then added a couple fly swatters to help add texture and color to our cell phone flashlights.
Step 3: Make sure the lighting comes from the back!
Without lighting, everything looks flat, boring, and unconvincing. Direct cellphone light is too harsh. The secret is to always find some material to shine the light through. In this case, an old curtain we had lying around.
By playing with the camera’s white balance, we were able to accentuate bring out different colors without the help of any colored gels.
Step 4: (optional) A little bit of Smoke makes everything magical
My mom spent her days looking at random household objects to see how they could be used in unique and interesting ways.
She used aluminum foil to create a reflection inside of a takeout lid she had hoarded for years. From there, we combined it with some incense she had lying around. The final touch was to use a small translucent orange bag to create the sunset!
If you want to see more Behind The Scenes, check out the videos on TikTok or see this little compilation here:
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