Mirror, mirror...

Tempe Town Lake and Mill Avenue Bridge

Inspired by Michael Shainblum's brilliant time lapse video, "Mirror City," I've been going through some old images trying to find ones worth of this kaleidoscope treatment. My first effort was a blue-hour morning shot of the Mill Avenue bridges. The technique is pretty simple in Photoshop, but the best things usually are.

The Railroad Bridge over Tempe Town Lake

Here's the old railroad bridge at sunset from a couple years ago. The lake was refilling after the rubber retaining dam failed and sent the entire lake and it's contents downstream. This is a really fun technique and one I'll have to keep in the back of my mind for the future.

Hayden Landing

This mirror image was also taken from a panorama at Tempe Town Lake. All this development is fairly new... within the last 10 years or so. 

Light rail and railroad bridges

A variation on the bridge theme at Tempe Town Lake. The light rail bridge is to the left with the 1912 railroad bridge to the right. It's an interesting contrast of old and new building techniques.

San Diego Skyline

I took this shot many years ago while on assignment for a travel magazine. The last rays of the setting sun set the skyline on fire with yellows and golds. This was a natural shot to convert to the mirror-image effect and one of my favorites.

Westgate Shopping Center

The Westgate Shopping Center in Glendale, Arizona was a fun one to do. It's interesting how this treatment tends to abstract the subject matter into symmetrical patterns of form and color, but still retains a realism.

The James Agency

I did the interior shots for this thriving advertising and marketing firm in Scottsdale a few months ago. The final photographic piece of the puzzle was this photograph of their newly installed sign. This mirror-image treatment is a departure from my previous ones as I used the images over and over, stacking them to make several mirror images. The red lines are passing cars captured with a slow shutter speed to blur the tail lights.

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© 2013 G. Reid Helms / Arizona Panorama

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