Hi Sean,

This is a great idea that I explored for quite sometime.
The only issue I had and I believe I mention in the history section of the DVD is the torn edges at the conclusion.
I over came this by having rough edges at the start and sepia toning the image to give an aged appearance to the image.
Although it worked to be honest no one care about keeping a photo that looks normal... everyone wants to keep one that is mis-made.
Glad you like the effect and thrilled you are experimenting with new ideas... someone on another thread said they were using baseball cards ... how cool!

Cheers,

Shawn

I have just ordered this and am fortunate to have friends in a four piece band called 'The Torn' http://www.thetorn.co.uk
Their publicity photo's have the band name printed on them, so I am thinking that this will be a great 'autographed' souvenir for a fan wanting a signed photo at one of their gigs.
Looking forward to trying it.

Paul Mc.

Hi Shawn,
Thanks for replying. Maybe I'm being thick but on the dvd I thought you played with the idea of tearing up a correct photo and then restoring it correctly so it ends the same as it started with all the pieces in the right places. The problem you had was that the outer edges were neatly cut at the start and rough after the restoration.
What I'm looking at is having the mismade photo at the start. Presentation along the lines of "when I got my photo's back from the developer the other day, they were all ok apart from this one. It was all mixed up!" I then get it signed, tear it up and restore it to a correct photo with all the bits in the right places. The rough edges are then on the outside where they should be.

Kind regards
Sean
I love your presentation of the effect. I voted it best effect of 2010. It's that strong. I'm just playing around with an idea to put my own spin on it .

I am so glad I stumbled upon this thread. I was at Shawns lecture a few years ago, had many other things going on and forgot about the effect... and visiting here completely reminded me of how great this is! Love the presentation idea with Criss as well; awesome.

Hi, everyone. If you're looking for inexpensive photo editing software, head over to my web site and click the link to Serif. Their PhotoPlus is as good as Photoshop for a fraction of the price.

I use their software to write, do photos, and handle my web site. They're just fantastic.

Carrie

Hey Sean,

The idea of the photo being mixed up at the start and normal at the end is something I explored. I thought it was on the DVD, but might not have made the final edit. Not sure .. I guess I should watch my DVD again... lol.

The major flaw in the routine for me is still ... no one wants a correct photo as a souvenir. It's not something people keep forever. Think about it. I have done a torn and restored card for years ... I LOVE Danny Garcia's TORN, but when I give them the restored card they look at it, comment on it ... and almost always leave it ... that's not what happens when the photo is all mixed up. They want to keep it ... because it is unlike anything they have ever seen ... ever. Try it with a clients business card and watch the reaction. Starting with an unusual object draws a lot of attention and they will want t look at it, check it out, etc ... that's not going to happen. Just my opinion ... let me know how the presentation works for you ...

shawn

This is something I ran by Shawn. It's a presentation involving a photo of the famous Spanish Artist Picasso. The finished state of the mixed up photo ties in well with his cubist period.

Motown, I like that idea. Fits together nicely.
The problem I have with using a family photo is that something just feels wrong tearing up a photo of a loved one. Even if it is to restore it. Strange huh?

Sean,

I perfectly understand about a family photo.

You may appreciate this. The other day I was playing with another idea on my computer.
It involves using a picture of the Beatles in which each face is in a corner. These for lads from Liverpool created some of the greatest music the world has ever know.
Then in 1970 they broke up (photo is torn). And while John and George are no longer with us (photo is shown restored. When it's turned around two of the corners are now blank) their music still lives on.

Still working out the script.

Motown, awesome Beatles idea...

-shawn

Thanks Shawn.

I really appreciate hearing that from you.

Shawn, you may remember me. I emailed a few PDF ideas to you including the one using Picasso.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Craig

Nice idea Motown. The beatles are universal. Everyone will understand the patter right away. Good thinking.

Sean

THanks Sean. Glad you enjoyed it.

Craig

Great idea!
Kind of reminded of "I hate David Copperfield" for the next century....!

I'm just ordering Torn 2 Pieces now - always seem to be late to the game! I don’t have Photoshop and I don’t intend to get it either. But I have a number of different photo editing applications on my main rig so I'm sure I'll be able to put together whatever I need for this effect. Nothing that is absolutely required to use Photoshop, is there? I mean as long as I can replicate the same effects in another program I should be OK, shouldn’t I?

Thanks!

Jim

Saw Shawn perform this at his lecture awhile back, but didn't buy it at the time (there was a lot of great stuff, but the wife permits only one purchase per lecture!). Anyway, birthday coming up in a week or two, and I think I'm gonna bite.

I am also very fortunate to be a Photoshop wiz (by profession), and I plan on working out a way to fuse TWO separately signed photos together. From what I recall of the method, this is totally doable with a little thought. Just need a great presentation to go along with it. I could definitely see this approach working in the aforementioned wedding scenario.

By the way,if you ever get a chance to catch S.F.'s lecture, do not hesitate. I'm not exaggerating when I say that, even if he decided not to perform ANY magic, I'd still have gotten my money's worth entertainment-wise.

Hi I just wanted to share something that happened to me recently, I was having some problems using the template for t2p, even though I had used it before, for some reason I could not get it to work correctly so I contacted Shawn on face book. He immediately emailed me back asking me to email him the photo and he would do it for me to save me time and then go through it with me at a later date to find out what I was doing wrong. After emailing him the photo I got an email within 20 mins with the finished article, he even went online and found a higher resolution photo to make it look even better.
I can't think of many fields where a world champion would go to these lengths.
The magic community is one of a kind and Shawn is a top guy.

The bottom line, he cares.

I wanted to pass along a tip in terms of the clean-up.

I have the spectator sign it, and immediately go into the effect, so that the person is still holding on to the sharpie. Then when I am ready to restore it I ask the person with the sharpie to hold the picture in between her/his hands. Naturally they need to get rid of the sharpie, so I very graciously take it and put it in my pocket with my dirty hand. It's super organic, and it makes the restoration happen in their hands. -Now, if you happen to have a way of producing smoke as you wave your hand around the spectator's hands you could just take this to the next level! -I hope this inspires someone out there. Thanks for the ideas above. I will try the Beatles idea, Motown.

Good luck!

Great idea, I want to do this with my business card but I am not for sure how to set it up do I need to take a photo of my business card and what type of printer paper do I need to use does it need to be a photo. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it.