Work some magic

Capture an entire landscape in a crystal ball – no wand required

Have you ever tried to fit an entire landscape into a tiny little ball? Well, it is possible, if you’re using a crystal ball. Place a crystal ball down in front of a scene, and you can shoot the view as it distorts and refracts through the crystal (or glass) and reaches your camera.

Choose a scene that’s quite high in contrast, so that it looks nice and punchy when it’s miniaturised by the ball. Sunny days and blue skies work well in this respect. You don’t need any fancy kit, though if your crystal ball is quite small, a macro lens would be useful. Settings aren’t too important for this shoot either; what is important is how you set things up – like this…