“Hummingbird Potion” is one of the first composites that I ever created. It is actually made up from about 11 seperate images. I got the idea thinking about the genie in the bottle effect…hey who doesn’t deserve 3 wishes right? Anyway, I had this great little handmade hummingbird that I picked up while traveling around New Mexico. Add a nice glass lamp and some smoke from scented incense…and you are on your way to making some “Hummingbird Potion”.
The liquid is sparkling water with red food coloring in it. I wasn’t getting the effect I wanted with only the fizz from the water, so I stuck a couple of straws in there and started blowing bubbles. It was a little bit of childish fun…which always adds to the magic.
The smoke is coming from an incense stick. I put colored gels over my speedlight to change the color of the smoke from grey to whatever color I wanted. Now I could have easily changed the color of smoke in post production, but it was so much catching the different patterns and swirls of the smoke that I decided to just keep playing with the colors and smoke. Plus my room smelled great!
Once I shoot all the different parts, I bring all of the best pieces and combine them into one image in Photoshop. If you notice, everything is shot on a black background. It makes the final image pieces look more natural once combined together if they are shot on similar colored background.
A little twisting here, a little warping there, stretching, painting, and wah laah…you get “Hummingbird Potion”!