Makin’ Bacon - Fun with Photoshop and Instant Printing

One of the reasons I love professional photography is because of I love creating stuff. So this year for the Canada Day party by the Canadians in Hong Kong meetup group, I thought it would be fun to have some sort of gimmicky props. It would make the event more fun and memorable to the guests. 

From a photographer’s point of view, props can help make better group photos. For those that feel slightly awkward in photos, it can make the photos better as it gives people a distraction but giving them something to do with their hands and facial expressions. Of course other things that help are plenty of alcohol, attending the party with a few good friends and having a photographer (and perhaps an assistant) that’s happy to let loose and also have a bit of silly fun.

We needed something that’s reminiscent of Canada and cheap and easy to make. I already have a instant photo printer (actually 2). So bacon moustaches was the answer!

Here are the basic steps:

1. Get References

I firstly grabbed a moustache shape off google images. Even better, the one I had already had a transparency mask saving a step in photoshop. I also grabbed a reference photo of some crispy bacon so I could get the colour and look right. Yum!

2. Photoshop

Here are the basic steps.

1. I created a red solid colour with a moustache shaped mask image from the google image.

2. Then grouped additional solid colour layers on top to create the meat using a white and pink layer.

3. Adding a stroke in the layer effects to give it an outline (dark brown).

4. Duplicate and create another variation as two can fit on the same 4x6 postcard print. You can see the basic file layout above. 

3. Print

Printing on the Canon Selphy CP910 was a slight hassle because there are no Canon drivers available Mac but  I’ll do a proper rant on about this on another post. 

This particular printer is a postcard sized printer which prints using dye sublimation technology. Basically it heats up layers of coloured plastic and transfers these on to the paper. Because of the design, the prints are quite water resistant and glossy which is perfect for this application. It has a sort of professional solid plastic feel to them instead of being flimsy paper.

4. Cut and Stick

Using scissors to cut out the prints and then gluing on some skewers. For extra pro finish, I added labels to hide the attachment point.

5. Test

Testing the look and feel as well as the structural stability of the design using a selfie of course. I think this is going to work.

6. Shoot

The shoot is coming up tomorrow. For those that want to join, the FB event is https://www.facebook.com/events/1608233902792862/

Stay tuned so see some of the results.

*Josh has never even been to North America or near that side of the globe. But being Australian born and raised, feels a lot of cultural connection to those friendly leafy syrup loving folk. And of course, he loves the delicious tangy taste of crispy bacon.