Beautiful Examples of Transparent Screen Trick Photos
Two weeks ago we published a showcase of beautiful pinhole photography, and this weekend again we’ve got something unusual and creative to lift up your spirits and challenge your creativity. Illusions can be eye-catching and attractive and when you apply them to computer displays, the results can be quite interesting and deceptive.
Take transparent screen trick photos, for example. The idea is simple: you take a photo of your surroundings and set this photo as your desktop wallpaper. Once the display is positioned precisely, the transparent screen trick is achieved. Simple, but what can you do with this simple idea?
Below we present a short selection of some original transparent screen trick photos. The environments presented in these photos appear to have a completely transparent screen which creates an optical illusion. We also feature step-by-step-tutorials in the end of this post: and here you go — now you have something fun to do over the weekend!
Transparent Screen Trick Photos
![Transparent screen. [177/365]](http://media.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/transparent-103.jpg)
Transparent Screen Tutorials and Resources
Just for Fun – Transparent Laptop Tutorial
This project involves taking three different pictures. The first two will be taken at the same time, and the last will be taken after some editing. It is very important that you do not move your computer or tripod during the whole process.
Transparent TFT Screen Tutorial
Learn how to create a transparent looking tft screen by combine smart photographing with some easy photoshop tricks. You will need a camera tripod and of course a digital camera to do this.
Transparent Screens Flickr Group
A huge and growing gallery of photos with the transparent screen trick effect.
Richie
August 7th, 2010 9:58 amThis is fantastic.. There are a few new ones here and they are very impressive… My weekend is booked :D
Actually, SONY and SAMSUNG are working on creating a transparent film LCD Screen.. so withing a few years, this might become a reality. Until then, Photoshop is GOD! (^_^)
Thanks for the links to the tutorials.. Doing this has to be fun!
Jeprie
August 8th, 2010 4:30 amTransparent film LCD will be awesome. The windows will seems floating on air and interact with the surroundings.
mike i
August 7th, 2010 10:10 amthat’s an awesome idea..i’m gonna make one right now!
Andrew
August 7th, 2010 10:43 amI think calling these “beautiful” is a bit of a stretch…but I guess its in line with most other throw away blog posts “10 most BEAUTIFUL ecommerce layouts,” “101 STUNNING examples of twitter icons,” and so on.
Also, while I’m being a curmudgeon…notice that most of the computers in the photos are a few years old. We had all hoped this trend was played out.
Vitaly Friedman
August 7th, 2010 10:48 amAndrew, please go over Smashing articles published over the last months and count how many lists-posts we published. And then please calculate the percentage of list posts against in-depth articles. Smashing Magazine isn’t about lists any longer; and it hasn’t been for 1.5 years now. The magazine has had quite a development. Please acknowledge that.
Andrew
August 7th, 2010 1:30 pmVitaly, thank you for your vigorous response, however I don’t think I made myself as clear as I could have. I was reacting against the use of the word “beautiful” (and its good friend “stunning”) that has become so ubiquitous in the titles of posts related to web design on your site and others.
Yes, you are right, Smashing provides a much higher percentage of content rich articles than other sites, that’s why I subscribe. Thank you! However, I am getting sick of the repetitive title hyperbole here and elsewhere.
Vitaly Friedman
August 8th, 2010 4:19 amOh, I understand, Andrew. You make a solid point. I’ll note it for the future articles. Thank you.
robert
September 3rd, 2010 4:44 amIts not so much on this site, as you say Vitaly, your magazine content is genuinely out there, far and above, the majority of internet content.
I also however dislike the use of the words:
amazing, beautiful, stunning, astonishing etc etc before a lists. Why are they so over-used on list titles?……
Its similar to when everyone started to use “L@@K” on ebay listings. All that produced was a listing that blended in with everyone elses….
Words should be powerful things and used with care. Overuse of words like these seem to be common place on the web.
Marc
March 2nd, 2013 11:24 amHey guys,
I guess we all have our nit picks / things that make us uptight etc..
However, i would like to point out that regardless of whether the words stunning, beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, guapa, bonita, fit and all of the above are given in a title, we all took the time to actually read this article which is a good article like most of the articles on Smashing.
Actually sometimes those word’s help engage people to check it out so why do people always say about something that is not really relevant to the actual article content and nit pick at a title instead or the computers are too old etc. I have noticed it a lot on forums / blogs and articles lately.
It is like they have nothing better to do or say.
Marc
Pete
August 7th, 2010 10:47 amAgree with Andrew. The only one that I really like is the one with the dog painting, because it’s the only one that makes sense both when stationary as well as on the go.
FS
August 7th, 2010 11:14 amthe one with girl is BEAUTIFUL lol
Everson Vargas da Luz
August 7th, 2010 11:34 amVery BEAUTIFUL!
Tim
August 7th, 2010 11:54 amA few are manipulated….
Russ
August 16th, 2010 1:54 amI’m guessing that the one with the racing track running through it is just a hollow screen. I was not impressed by it at all. Notice that the effect isn’t quite the same when there are no desktop icons present.
Syah Bakti
August 7th, 2010 11:57 amNice Idea!
Daniel
August 7th, 2010 12:33 pmThose pictures are really nice even though some are faked.
Speider
August 7th, 2010 1:19 pmLOVE your articles, Aquil! I see these as great inspiration in a thought process. The race track, coffee pouring, iPhone on the table, legs from the laptop and hand holding iphone (not to mention some others) are unique and great creative thoughts. Many are just an insert into an everyday scene and the variance of ideas is a great lesson on taking the creative thought to the next level.
Talita
August 7th, 2010 1:15 pmThis is wonderful!! I’ll sure do that when I have a fixed home!
Ignazio
August 7th, 2010 1:56 pmBeautiful!
Stunning!
;o))
No, for real, I always enjoy when people come up with ideas like that. Photoshop Users like us are, of course, not going to fall from their chairs, but to non-geeks this is like “magic.”
Katie
August 7th, 2010 2:59 pmThese are really cool! I want to make one now.
John
August 7th, 2010 3:14 pmSome of these are legit and interesting.
Sadly, the first one, amongst a few others are faked: the image that appears to be on the screen was not on the screen during the time of capture, but Photoshoped in afterwards. The giveaway is the screen’s reflection on the keyboard surrounds shows the screen as being dark or off, rather than reflecting the screen’s image.
Peter J. Hart
August 11th, 2010 11:26 amYou should visit the flickr page of the first image. The cutout effect wasn’t necessarily the point of the photo. The photographer was experimenting how to light the room to match the background to the laptop screen. There are several shots in the series.
wozza
August 12th, 2010 9:05 amIndeed, but the point of the article was to show examples of these images where:
“The idea is simple: you take a photo of your surroundings and set this photo as your desktop wallpaper. Once the display is positioned precisely, the transparent screen trick is achieved”
Part of the art of these things is surely the work to physically position the screen correctly. If it’s purely photoshopped, then that aspect is missing.
Peter J. Hart
August 18th, 2010 2:42 pm@wozza, my point was that the photo in question was not photoshopped because the photographer wasn’t trying to just get the transparent screen effect, but was trying to get the right exposure to match the screen. If it was just photoshop, fiddling with the exposure is pointless.
My actual but subtle point was to not criticize people’s work out of hand. Maybe you can’t believe their results because they are more talented that you. Click the image and take it in context first. Then if it is shopped, call them out for who they are: talented fakers that are producing stuff in Photoshop instead of reading blogs about people producing stuff in Photoshop :)
Also, if the exposure is perfectly matched so the light coming off the screen was the same as the light of the room, I am not sure the screen would illuminate the keyboard.
niXu
August 7th, 2010 5:07 pmNice works~
it’s looks real. lol
BTW, you don’t need to make a ‘Fake’ one anymore.
Check this out. (It’s Korean article, Just play the Video clip. ;D)
http://www.jaea.net/1498
DG8TAL
August 7th, 2010 6:18 pmWow. I’ve never seen this before. Great post!
Chris Marshall
August 7th, 2010 7:35 pmAll the great and most creative people use the MAC ;)
I love my Mac
bob
August 8th, 2010 10:38 ampeople like you are the reason people hate mac fags
robert
September 3rd, 2010 4:48 amagreed.
mac hardware – good but overpriced
mac software – seriously not that special and in some cases limiting
Miguel
August 7th, 2010 9:01 pmVery nice.
Excellent collection.
Ali Qayyum
August 7th, 2010 9:05 pmi never seen like this , awesome
Bassam Aklan
August 7th, 2010 10:13 pmNice photos, thank you.
Bob H
August 7th, 2010 10:46 pmNice post, but you should really remove the fakes, they detract from it.
Bob
pesho
August 8th, 2010 1:04 amnice Thanks
David
August 8th, 2010 2:57 amI like these so much I’ve just taken the stanley knife to my laptop screen. What did you use to get through the casing?
Does the screen just pop back into place when you’re done?
Thanks for the inspiration :-)
Jonny
August 8th, 2010 4:43 amIsn’t the point of this to use clever photography (well not when clever when everyone and his dog can has done it), isn’t using photoshop cheating? Anyone can do that in photoshop.
SITZ
August 8th, 2010 5:31 amGreat Pics !
I must say them Innovative :)
Hedaru
August 8th, 2010 6:15 amHaha. Clever tricks.
The pop-up road is the best!
Scalpa
August 8th, 2010 6:20 amGreat job, love it,
Rex
August 8th, 2010 9:32 amWTF I am angry! Why only mac computers?
Mohawk Kellye
August 10th, 2010 12:44 pm… there are tons of non-mac computers. What are you talking about?
laura sweet
August 8th, 2010 1:13 pmNicely done! Now, of course I’m tempted to do the same!
anonymous
August 8th, 2010 3:51 pmnice, but some are very clearly shopped… not so much a ‘screen trick photo’ as a ‘photoshop photomanipulation’.
Evan
August 8th, 2010 5:18 pmNot something I expected SM to post… maybe you’ve been spoiling me but this seems a bit useless :(
Loller
August 9th, 2010 12:23 pmI wouldn’t say that. They post plenty of useless stuff. ;)
Matthew Wehrly
August 8th, 2010 7:23 pmThese are great! The slot car image is impressive and so is the three mac books. Great post!
Rajesh Maharjan
August 8th, 2010 7:59 pmThey are the great imagination through photoshop, great.
Pete Morley
August 9th, 2010 12:20 amNo. 9 is brilliant
Gavin Weeks
August 9th, 2010 1:11 amSurprised this trend is still going strong, but attractive none the less, perhaps the use of “beautiful” and “stunning” is getting a little over used as Andrew stated above. Perhaps “great examples” would be more apt given that they are good examples, but not always beautiful!
G
Sven
August 9th, 2010 2:25 amThese are great examples!
I played around with that about 5 years ago. Here’s a video with iBook:
http://www.sven-assmann.de/blog/files/3ccc5cce3198226a5d3555aee45bf8bb-8.html
Phoenixheart
August 9th, 2010 3:43 amWhy SM is publishing these articles are beyond me. Not to be offensive, but you guys should really focus into more quality stuffs other than a collection of photos.
icomet
August 9th, 2010 4:18 amvery interesting!
my favorite is “Caffè a computer” – great!
Vishal Gupta
August 9th, 2010 5:51 amVery very creative. I really like the ideas and how they are executed.
Neo
August 9th, 2010 8:00 amGreat article! Very Creative… “Caffè a computer” was brilliantly awesome…
ahhheeessh
August 9th, 2010 10:24 amahh haa a dees be so a funny!!!! i laugh the very big!!!
Komal
August 9th, 2010 11:12 amVery Interesting!
Ayhan
August 14th, 2010 9:54 pmkomal can u talk wıd me at msn plz
Loller
August 9th, 2010 12:23 pmSomebody get this useless article out of my RSS feed.
retiisi
August 9th, 2010 12:32 pmIt’s pretty hilarious that some of you are upset because of those photoshopped fakes are not the real fakes…
Steve
August 9th, 2010 4:05 pmI tried this a few months ago as part of my 52 week project, because I loved the idea!
Here’s a link to my attempt, let me know what you think!
http://panaros.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/transparency-six-of-fifty-two/
Doink
August 9th, 2010 11:33 pmI tried to create this myself, too bad only works from a single view point :)
Suvendu Chatterjee
August 10th, 2010 1:20 amIt’s really amazing…. :).
Susi
August 10th, 2010 3:19 amsummer content, uh? useless
Johann
August 10th, 2010 8:03 amAh yes… to have all the time in the world… the things I would do…
Mohawk Kellye
August 10th, 2010 12:40 pmI couldn’t help but chuckle at that old ass iMac (with the dome base and swivel screen).
Vikesh Patel
August 11th, 2010 3:16 amThere are some very creative business cards here, which I find are the best because they instantly catch your eye and stand out. My favourite is Fiverr’s cardboard business card because they look good whilst still containing all the necessary information and you can see the time and effort put into producing the cards and. Really good collection and some useful tutorials.
Amanda
August 13th, 2010 11:51 pmhaha That would actually be quite awesome if our screens really were transparent!
ashar
September 23rd, 2010 9:04 pmit is pretty like u ha ha
Drey
August 14th, 2010 4:01 amHey, this transparent screen trick is so cool. Let’s search for lots of photos showing this. And all photoshopped ones too. Cool, now publish it to smashing mag and give it a creative title. Something like “beautiful” or “stunning” photos. Great. Now we have some awesome content.
Really, I dig smashing magazine.. but this article is so useless. Where’s the quality in this content?
Sunalini
August 15th, 2010 1:14 amLiked all but my fav is “Caffè a computer”
Cheryl
August 15th, 2010 10:20 amThis is SO OLD. I remember this being done years ago.
Jerky Oats
August 29th, 2010 3:57 pmSome really inspiring photography ideas. A trend that seems to be going strong.
Jerky Oats
kieran
September 8th, 2010 7:51 amtee hee
bhavi
September 24th, 2010 9:44 amwow!!! its really amazing!!!
imran
October 12th, 2010 8:59 pmthis is fantastic
keisera
October 21st, 2010 1:37 pmthis is really KEWL! hehe. nice posts and photos! I should try one. ;)
Yulia
November 5th, 2010 7:04 ami liked it)) great idea))) i did the same in photoshop))
Mondo Print
December 9th, 2010 8:19 amSoooo awesome. These are really neat. Thanks :)
vaibhav
January 25th, 2011 7:52 pmawesum work. keep it up…
BRiTTO
February 23rd, 2011 3:19 amAWESOME! tOo much cOOl!~
I’m going to practise these Tutorials today ;D
Mohsin ali chidi
July 21st, 2012 12:18 pmfor the few seconds photos make me think…how?