How To Make A Mirror Photograph

In this project you’re going to make a mirror photograph. 

What I call a mirror photograph is one where one half is an exact copy of the other half. 

However the halves are beside each other, but one is reversed. 

A mirror photograph can be the left side and the right side of a photograph. 

It can also be the top half and the bottom half of an image. 

The important thing is that one half mirrors the other exactly.

The object of this exercise is to create a mirror photograph. 

You can use a photo you have already taken and saved, or shoot a new photo. 

This photograph can be of anything, a landscape, a still life, an action photograph or anything you want.

Prepare for your mirror photograph

Chose and then open any one of your  photographs. 

Create a new blank image exactly the same size as the photo you’ve just opened. 

You can just leave it alone for the time being. 

The image you opened can be any photo, including one which you don’t consider great, but some part of it is interesting. 

You will only be using half of it, but the part you use can be any part. 

It can be the left half, the right half or any other part, but it must be a complete half.

Create a second blank canvas this one being the same height as the original but exactly half as wide. 

If the photograph is 6,000px x 4,000px then the half canvas should be 3,000px x 4,000px. 

Just divide the width by half and use the full height. 

It doesn’t have to be exactly the size of the original, it can be any size up to twice the original size. 

I’m using half because it’s probably the easiest.

Select, copy and paste

Select the photo you opened originally, then select and copy it in its entirety. 

You can copy only part of it, but must be the complete height and at least half of its width. 

It must be as wide or wider than the blank half canvas that you’ve created.

Paste the photo, or the part of it that you’ve copied, into the blank half canvas. 

Move it about until you’ve got an interesting part in the new half size canvas. 

Make sure that top and bottom are included and that there isn’t any blank space left. 

If the portion of the photo that you copied is not wide enough, go again.

This time make sure you copy and paste another wider portion, and that it fills the necessary space.

When you’ve got the half canvas full with a part of the photograph that you like, deselect it. 

Then select the half canvas that you’ve just saved and paste it. 

This time to either the right or left side of the full blank canvas.

This blank canvas should be the same size as the original photograph. 

It doesn’t matter which side you paste it, but it must fit one half of the canvas exactly to work. 

Finishing your mirror photograph

Paste the half image again, into the other side of the canvas so that they meet in the middle. 

Then flip the section that you’ve just pasted horizontally. 

You now have an image where one side of the new image is the exact copy of the other side. 

One side should be the reverse of the other, just like a mirror image.

Save it remembering to  use the save as command and giving it a different name. 

Now you’ve completed the mirror photograph, and have an exciting and possibly amusing image.

You can make them vertically also

You can do the same thing using the top and bottom halves of a photo as well as the left and right. 

You just make the blank half canvas the complete width and half the height of the photograph you’re using. 

This time you will flip the half image vertically.

You can get different effects depending on what type of photograph you use. 

You can use a photo of an animal or bird. 

The creature should take up slightly less than half the width of the photo.

Animal mirror photos will always look good, because you often see two in a photo. 

A landscape can look very strange and a little disconcerting., 

Still life will depend on what it’s made up of, because the possibilities are enormous. 

Have fun with mirror photographs

I like to call these mirror images, because one side is a mirror image of the other side. 

It only takes a few minutes to make one, and it’s always fun. 

They’re always a bit of a surprise, and good for smile if not a laugh. 

If your in a photographic rut, making a mirror photograph or two can be just what you need to rekindle your creativity.

Off course you don’t have to stick to the aspect ratio of the original photograph.

There’s nothing to stop you flipping the entire photo and making a panoramic mirror photograph.

Use any portion between half and a full photo.

Indeed you can use less than half of a photo and make perhaps a square mirror size.

There’s many possibilities and all should be enjoyable and fun.