The camera lucida made by Ancient Magic Tools does just what it "says on the box". You look through the eyepiece and you see the subject reflected on the piece of paper you put down, ready for you to trace. It’s the third camera lucida I’ve tried, and I like this one for its small size(easy to store), being able to attach it to a table or drawing board, and for the filters you can use which help you see the reflected image better in different light conditions.
Even understanding how a camera lucida works, it still seems like a bit of magic. When you look into it, the subject in front of you magically appears on your piece of paper. You see both the’reflection’ and your paper(and hand holding your pencil), so you can then trace the image.
The original camera lucida from Ancient Magic Art Tools was a wooden version(see photo), but in 2010 the company started producing metal version that clamps onto a table or drawing board. I like this version for the ease of setting it up(you clamp it onto the edge of a table or drawing board) and the little storage space it requires. The view through the camera is very clear, and the two filters make it easy to adjust how much you can see reflected on your sheet of paper in various lights.
The two filters(darker pieces of plexiglass) that you can screw in position to adapt the intensity of the light coming through and how saturated the reflected subject is. Use one or both as necessary to adapt the light so you see a well-reflected subject but can still see the marks you’re making on the paper.(In photo I’ve moved a little to the right so you can clearly see the lines I’ve drawn.)
Being so accustomed to a zoom lens on a camera where you turn the lens(or press a button) and the object gets bigger, it takes a little getting used to having to move the camera or object closer to one another to make the object appear larger on the paper. Also check the angle of the camera and your drawing board to ensure you’re not distorting verticals(look through the camera and check a vertical on the left and right of the view, and you’ll soon see). A little experimentation will get you and your subject optimally situated.
If you struggle with accurate perspective, or are short of time but like doing a detailed drawing that you then want to copy onto a canvas, a camera lucida is a tool that solves the problem.(No reason you can’t use it to sketch straight onto a canvas either.) Unlike a projector, it can be used on objects too, not just photos, and doesn’t need electricity.
Photo Art Studio offers several tools for altering photographs while remaining friendly to all users. The program’s impressive collection of tools was matched by its impressively easy navigation.
We loved the program’s interface because it was professionally designed and offered intuitive onscreen insight that kept us from needing to visit the instructional Help file. The program featured a stunning amount of editing choices for our photo, all easily accessible via a single menu complete with thumbnail examples. Ranging from standard editing and cropping tools to applying masks and filters, which drastically altered the photo’s makeup, to designing a greeting card or slapping on a watermark, all the choices performed very well and were instantly understandable. This was quite a feat, since we’ve tested many editing programs with fewer options that took a lot of work to use. The program offered a feature to change up the layout’s skin, which worked well and had many options, but didn’t feel like a necessity. By including every editing option we could think of and making each easy to use, this program was a success.
Photo Art Studio has a 30-use trial. It comes as a compressed file, and offers a lot of options, making each of them simple enough for novices. We recommend this program.
Photo Art Studio is a brand-new application for decorating photos and applying effects. Within literally a couple of seconds, you will be able to build up a stylish frame, create a postcard or a collage. The program includes a handful of functions necessary for processing digital photographs: automatic enhancement and editing, creating special effects, framing, adding decorations and labels.