Photobombing Edward Hopper Paintings

Photobombing is the act of inserting oneself into the field of view of a photograph, often in order to play a practical joke on the photographer [painter for our purposes] or the subjects. 

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I was playing with the Superimpose app and looking for images to collage when I came across Automat by Edward Hopper. His work is full of open spaces with figures in quiet or isolated poses. Many of his pieces are perfect for practicing digital collages where students can explore overlapping, relative size, middle ground, and adjusting color filters to match the environment. I practiced these images below (click to view them large) with student photos from a previous assignment. The story changes when I added the photo. These would make interesting creative writing prompts as well. Here is my curated collection of images by Edward Hopper that will be perfect for students to photobomb.
Related post: Hopping into Hopper

Violinist in Chop Suey

Clerk at the Hotel Lobby

Visitor in Compartment C Car 293

Sunlight on Brownstones with a cup of tea

Saxophone at Seven AM

Crossing the Four Lane Road

Family in Room in New York

March Madness at the Office

Out of her Chair in the Chair Car

Strange Thing at the Automat

Girl in First Row Orchestra

Soccer Mom at Western Motel

Grading Papers in the City

Chilly at the Hotel Window

Modeling at the New York Office

How to Photobomb an Edward Hopper Painting from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

1. Choose the Edward Hopper image you want to photobomb and load it to your camera roll using the "magic touch" (click/hold/chose save image).
2. Pose in front of green screen as if you are in the painting consider the direction you face, expression, body language. Be sure that you are choosing a MIDDLE GROUND area where there will be some kind of overlapping.
3. Partner takes your photo in the camera app on your iPad. 
4. Open the Superimpose app & import the Edward Hopper image as the background layer
5. Import your pose as foreground layer
6. Use the magic wand to eliminate the green screen.
7. Touch up with the paint brush to erase more and the eraser tool to bring back what you lost. Remember to resize the tools to your needs & zoom into the photo to get the details.
8. Transform the photo of you to the best size & move it to a place in the middle ground. There should be overlapping.
9. In the transform mode, slide the transparency up until you can see exactly what needs to be erased to create the illusion of overlapping.
10. Select the mask button & use the paintbrush to erase for overlapping. 
11. Restore opacity to your photo & see if you need any touch ups.
12. Explore contrast, hues, and brightness to make your photo blend into painting. 
13. Save to the camera roll &  turn in
14. Scan the QR code, and upload to Artsonia. Follow on screen directions for adding title and artist statement.

Click here to this free app from the Metropolitan Art Museum would be a wonderful introductory lesson. It shows manipulated photographs from the days before Photoshop. You can take a quiz, learn why they were manipulated, and browse the collection. Use this link to grab the app.

See this commercial from American Family where hopeful actors photobomb Edward Hopper's NightHawks (owned by the Art Institute of Chicago).