Thanks, winetou. This was shot on a single piece of 4"x5" color transparency film in three exposures. I trained the dove myself.

@Montage,
You have good eye--and thanks! Yes, this was the first in a series of three "magic tricks" that matched in design and were used on the cover of catalogs.

I like the dove but am not completely satisfied with this shot. As conceived, it should appear as though the dove is appearing out of the blur of the cards--that is, the fluttering cards magically turn into the beating of a white dove's wings. However, since it is a live dove that was really flying, it was difficult to get it even this close with the right action on the wings.

That card on the bottom left is the Dove of Hearts, which my art director designed. It's hard to see in this photo, but it is a nice piece in itself.

@flipthorn,

Well, it *is* fake, except for the dove. This was a fixed set. Each of the cards, and the single feather, is supported by a thin black wire receding into the background. The cards near the bottom are spray-painted white to make them fade into the blur. That was exposure one.

Exposure two: toss the tame magician's dove into the shot at the approximate point I had determined it needed to be. The dove's cage is immediately below the frame and the dove is simply landing on it, as it was trained to do--and wanted to do.

Exposure three (only if it looked like I got a decent image of the done): the camera (a Sinar 4x5) was on a camera stand, extending to the side and supported by bungee cords. After making first two flash exposures, I lifted the camera, turned on the spotlight, opened the shutter and dropped the camera. The camera was caught by the bungee cords and bounced up and down in an arc that approximated that of the cards--the setup allowed the camera to move in an arc, like the windshield wiper on your car..

Close the shutter, send the film to the lab with fingers crossed.

Thanks for your comment and the good marks.

@kyla...meaning exactly what, Ms. smarty-pants?

Hi, Carl.

Thanks for the comment and thanks also for pushing this onto the home page.

Unbelievably perfect and excellent in every way! WOW!

It´s really Magic!
Good work Mr. King. I was surprise again with your magics captures.

It´s really Magic!
Good work Mr. King. I was surprise again with your magics captures.

once again.. a 'photoshopped' image done the hard way :D bungie cords on the camera? whatever next! do you miss such creative methods to get the end result? sounds like half of the fun of taking the photo, was thinking how to do it.

now i do kinda see what 'film' people say about dslrs are cheating

well done anyway king :)

I've never seen this one in this "higher" resolution. Looks great, and of corse very clever made.
Congrats!!!

Little question though, why did you choose to have only kings queens and jacks? (a bit cheesy? ;) And what is the card on the lower left? "D"?

@pete...since early in my photography hobby/career (beginning seriously in 1969), I was more interested in creating images than in capturing images. Even when photographing dancers, I was more interested in collaborating with individual dancers in creating a beautiful image than I was in capturing rehearsal or performance photographs.

Now I have no argument against capturing images and sometimes I love to do so myself. I greatly admire the beautiful work presented here on W.S. by folks who rarely set up a photograph.

Thanks very much for your perceptive comments.

@Perseida...muchas gracias!

@ChriZ...I'm still learning how to scan my old transparencies, and I'm always working on how to use Photoshop to best interpret the original tones and textures into the digital format.

This photograph was created in collaboration with an art director--the one who created the "Dove of Hearts." I don't remember why we chose to have only face cards, but you get credit for being the first to mention it. I do see that the 10 Hearts is the next card to escape.

Thanks for you comments!