eggplant...thanks. A friend suggested that I post this, so I complied. I'm glad you found some Relevance in the image (since it's a lot about butterflies, scarves and magic tricks).

Apologia: This is a scan from a 35mm Kodachrome copy of the original 4"x5" film transparency. Some quality was lost in the process.

Explanation: This was the cover of a gift convention brochure for which the theme was "Magic." I created three images in this same design, which can be seen on my website. Go here and scroll down:

http://www.kingdouglas.com/Journal07.htm

This unretouched image was created entirely in-camera with multiple exposures on a single piece of 4"x5" Fujichrome transparency film, using three different Sinar view cameras on three different sets.

The hand in the foreground is my own, and I made the exposure (#1) myself.

The hand in the background (exposure #2) belongs to my assistant, who is actually holding the scarves, which are being blown upward by a strong fan placed on the floor.

The butterfly arrangement is a third exposure. Each butterfly is glued to a very thin black wire, which extends back on axis of the lens, so to be invisible.

The biggest challenge was to get the yellow scarf to morph into the yellow butterfly at the top of the arrangement. This was done by suspending a piece of glass directly in front of the lens in the scarf set and the butterfly set, then painting vaseline onto the glass in the area where I wanted the transition to take place. Adding to the difficulty was that the position of the yellow scarf, and the arc of all the scarves, changed greatly from millisecond to millisecond, so the right moment was illusive. Remember that each photograph consisted of three exposures and that each exposure was made on a different set with a different camera locked into position, so it was time-consuming and tedious to complete each set of exposures.

This photograph took many trials over several days (because we had to wait for each set of exposures to come back from the lab before making refinements to the set and/or methods) to finally get the shot I wanted.

Setaou...see, I was worried about that. Thanks for being liberal. :>)

Now that's craftsmanship...thanks for the detailed process explanation, and the apologia (I'd love to see the original 4X5 chrome, or better yet a 16X20 high quality cibachrome print).
The philosophical question is, are we better off now that you could now do this photo concept in a fraction of the time with digital cameras, photoshop, etc.?
Some would say, yes, because it frees up your time and energy to create even more art...others would say the concentration and determination to create this image the way you did IS the art.

eggplant,

So to be able to shoot digitally (even with a borrowed point-and-shoot) is a great advantage in getting to the solution more quickly and far less expensively. However, Photoshop creates a whole new ballgame.

As I have mentioned elsewhere (ad nauseum), the fact that I have no equipment to speak of is mitigated to some degree by my experience in creating these kinds of images...problem solving, jury-rigging, perseverance, etc.

I'm often able to fool the point-and-shoot camera into providing what I need in the way of focus, shutter speed and aperture to get the final result I'm looking for. It's kind of a game for me.

Hummingbird...thanks. :>)

Hummingbird...thanks. :>)

Jack...you know it all! Thank you.

KIng congrats! I know by the rate ok this is king works! hehe

Fabulous. All about the hands.

King, I didn't even have the time to rate on this... Amazing work, especially when considering that you didn't use photoshop. Great work!

Lange, PThree, Ana and ChriZ,

Thanks very much.

WOW!
King you ARE a magician.
I don't think I have ever seen such a thing.
Old School take a bow!!!!