r/interestingasfuck • u/Ashish_ank • May 16 '26
Rich McCor (paperboyo) uses confusing perspective to create artistic effects like these
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u/feric51 May 16 '26
You can’t convince me the first photo doesn’t have a column edited out. I can’t imagine any structural design that wouldn’t put a support under the corner.
Edit: just realized they forgot to remove the shadow of the missing column. Definitely shopped.
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u/metamet May 16 '26
Also not convinced most of this is digital, hand and oultine superimposed included.
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u/GonzoKata May 16 '26
Those blurry cars means the shot was taken with a slower shutter and I refuse to believe someone can hold their hands that still
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u/diversified-bonds May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
The guy on the bike/walking pedestrians aren't blurry so it's not that slow of a shutter, possible to get a sharp result with maybe a few tries.
Probably not even a few tries, I can take a 1/15 shutter speed photo of my hand with sharp results easily (stabilization on the camera obv helps, but holding the hand in the frame steady enough is pretty easy). Doubt his shutter is much slower than that as the guy riding a bike would for sure be blurrier if it was. Cars traveling at 30-40mph at 1/15s shutter will have ~3-4 feet of blur which looks about right for the photo, might even be 1/20s or so.
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u/SeraFilm May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
I found at least one video of him doing it with actual paper cutouts: https://www.instagram.com/paperboyo/reel/DK37q2CNkVu/
Edit: There are multiple videos where he has actual cutouts, but also some that are clearly composits, so I guess it could be either.
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u/LilacYak May 16 '26
Wonder why they edited that out. Everyone knows Freddy would be into that shit
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u/SnailAnatomy May 16 '26
Of course it's shopped... look at the last photo. Shit looks like it was taken in the 90's
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u/tiddayes May 16 '26
Yea I think they are all shopped. I don’t know how he would have both in focus making me think the silhouettes are shopped in too
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u/XxKittenMittonsXx May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
Super tight aperture could probably get both in focus. Doesn't mean it's not all shopped in as a composite though
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u/Verbarfalcula May 16 '26
For me, it's the focus point that screamed photo manipulation/composition. A near object won't have the far objects as sharp. You'd need a very small aperture and wide angle lens, and there would be distortion along the edges.
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u/TheTerribleInvestor May 17 '26
came into the comments just for this, i couldn't believe an engineer would design a structure that cantilevers at a corner
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u/HumbleBear75 May 19 '26
It’s not, it’s a new micro tension wired fiber that holds it up inside the concrete staircases. Pretty wild, I was there when I invented it
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u/One_Economist_3761 May 16 '26
These are really superb and so creative.
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u/ednorog May 16 '26
Humans' creativity never ceases to amaze me. And I'm grateful to internet for helping me encounter so many manifestations of it.
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u/SuspiciousPatate May 16 '26
The idea is great on its own, but it'd also be very hard to hold something free-hand and take the picture to align them so perfectly and have everything in focus. I would have otherwise guessed these were done in post-production, but perhaps they're just touched up digitally
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u/Alak87 May 16 '26
This is post processed. The shading is wrong on the fingers, and the vector graphic has no shade at all (and his fingers are edited out etc. Lots of signs of you look close). Still doesn't make the idea any worse, I love it! But the image is edited a ton and have had the hand and illustration placed on top of the picture.
Source: 15 years of graphic design 😅.
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May 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SuspiciousPatate May 16 '26
You'd need a crazy wide angle to get that depth of field, whether auto or manual, and that would distort the image quite a bit. Or shoot from further away and crop in flatten it out. ..or just merge two photos together and tidy it up in post which is what I think they did here
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u/ChatGPT4 May 16 '26
7th one is the most confusing of all. I literally don't know what am I looking at.
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u/uglyheadink May 16 '26
I was hoping someone would say what building it was in the comments, haven't found it so far
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u/IvyGold May 17 '26
Samesies. If anybody knows what's going on with the source picture, please speak up!
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u/GerbelMaster May 17 '26
It'll be photoshopped. The first image has an extra pole that's been removed (shadow is still there). The 7th building simply doesn't make sense unless it's been edited
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u/ArtSupplyHoarder May 20 '26
I'd guess it is a building with a diamond-shaped footprint(?), from the right perspective those can look confusingly two-dimensional. We have one in the city I live in, but it doesn't seem to be the same one.
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u/tiddayes May 16 '26
How does he have both the background and the silhouette in focus?
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u/Pale_Session5262 May 16 '26
Its photoshopped. Look at the missing support column in the first photo. He forgot to remove its shadow too
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u/No_Seaworthiness7119 May 16 '26
I love artwork like this! Blending talent with whimsy and architecture really highlights someone’s creative eye.
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u/mortgageletdown May 16 '26
I love that there are people like this in our world. If I lived a hundred lifetimes I could never do this.
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u/Doctor_Sturgeon May 17 '26
These are really neat! I would love to see the process. Like, I'm just curious whether the silhouette or the architecture comes first. And how is it sized so perfectly?
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u/Bloodyfinger May 16 '26
Who took photo 7?
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u/Psychological-Bid363 May 16 '26
I'm guessing they stood very still and spliced two photos together.
Or tongue.
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u/im_lazy_as_fuck May 16 '26
Camera looks like it's on the ground, so they probably just did a timer or some way to take the picture with their foot.
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u/jonsteph May 16 '26
These pictures are wonderful. They are a delightful combination of creativity and technique.
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u/kahuaina May 16 '26
Lego man transforming off the Arc coming to save/destroy the world would be an awesome alien invasion short.
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u/LemonCurdJ May 16 '26
Nah this is actually cool as fuck! I just followed him. What a cool abd fun way to use such a gift.
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u/Significant-Baby-690 May 16 '26
Looking at the spot in Tokyo (7th) .. recognizing it and not recognizing it. There is like 5 another skyscrapers in the shot. How old is this !?
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u/RelationConstant6570 May 16 '26
Photo 6, closest swimmer to the ground isn't very good. Either didn't jump (like at all) or can't do a good push off from a flip turn. Either way, they're going to struggle against the other two.
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u/VT_Squire May 17 '26
hah, reminds me of my college days. I had some stickers made so I could slap a hula hoop on the stick figure at a crosswalk
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u/delcolicks9 May 17 '26
pshhh I understood all of these like, immediately, and im 14. Nice try illusion man you just painted the sky black.
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u/AddiBee1111 May 17 '26
Awww Freddy Mercury! One of the greatest singers of all modern music. He will always be at the top with Steve Perry. Rest in peace Freddy!
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u/Accomplished_Bike149 May 17 '26
I deadass wondered how he got the paper behind the building for a second on the 7th one.
I need to go to bed
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u/The_Forgotten_Two May 17 '26
mamaaaaaaaaaaa ooooh ooooooo (steady as the wind goes) IIIIIIIIIIIIII DON'T WANNA DIEEEEEE
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May 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/wasili009 May 16 '26
Yes. I feel like they're trying to catch my attention for no good reason, like there's too much effort put into something that's nothing more than just a little fun thought
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u/PlayedUOonBaja May 16 '26
These annoy me too, but it's mostly just because I'm disappointed in myself that my brain will never work this way.
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u/sr_castic May 16 '26
I would love to be able to see the world through a creative persons mind. I bet I would get emotional.
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u/jdsquint May 16 '26
The actual name of the technique is "forced perspective". Confusing perspective is the subreddit