This was my 2nd product from SansMinds and once again, they delivered.
PhotoShop is an unbelievable piece of magic. You bring out a photo, and alter it anyway you want. And then you give it away.
If you haven't seen a demo, check it out: http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2519
The reviews on that site are just... I don't know what to say. Most of them had complaints of the gimmick and photo being stuck together due to heat. I understand that. The people that say that spectators figure it out... No. They won't. Seriously... Watch the very end of that demo and honestly tell me that you didn't pause it and re-watch it.
I did.
At least 10 times.
Teaching: Will goes over each trick very well. What I liked SO much was that they explanations didn't drag on and on forever. (Jacob's Ladder anyone)
G does come on at one point and teaches his companion effect to Gum or Ultra Gum. I don't know which.
Quality: The quality of the video was quite good. I wasn't surprised, as many companies seem to be catching up to T11.
Length: The DVD ran in around 36 minutes total. I think that every question I had in regards to the effect was answered in that amount of time.
Gimmicks: I'm having to wait for replacement gimmicks as is everyone who ordered from Penguin. So I can't comment at the moment.
Routines:
Kiss: You show a picture of a Hershey Kiss, and pop it out of the photo.
Commentary: A whole lot of people bought PS just for this. I, however, thought it was the weakest trick on the DVD. It is very good, but the other tricks blow this out of the water.
Mystery Card: We all know the plot. Imagine popping a folded up card out of the photo.
Commentary: I don't do mystery card plots. A lot of people do. This trick is very strong.
Mini Deck Routine: You show a photo with a miniature deck in it. This gets a laugh. You hold the photo over someone's hand. The deck falls out of it. Laughter ceases. You then do the invisible deck with the mini deck.
Commentary: I gotta say... I immediately wanted a mini ID. When the deck fell out of the photo...Gah. It just looks...sooo...good.
Spare Key: You are walking up to the front door with your date. You seem to have misplaced your key. You bring out the photo of the key and say it's your spare. You pop the key out, and unlock your door.
Commentary: At the right moment, this would drop jaws.
Sponge: You show a picture of a sponge ball. You set it on the table. The photo rises up off the table by itself and ends up resting on top of a sponge ball. You lift the photo. No more sponge ball in the photo.
Commentary: I HATE SPONGE BALLS. Like really bad. I never thought I would say this... I want some sponge balls now.
Balloon: You show a photo of deflated balloons. You reach into the photo, pull out the stem of the balloon, blow it up, put it back in the photo, and turn the photo around to reveal a partially blown up balloon.
Commentary: It just sounds awesome from the description doesn't it. Well... IT IS AWESOME. That would land a gig flat out by itself. It looks EXACTLY how I wrote it.
Quarter: You borrow a quarter, and put it in the photo visibly.
Commentary: You saw this at the end of the demo. It looks 100% like real magic in the demo doesn't it? I was waiting the entire DVD to get to that part, and started to panic when he never did it. Then it made it to the very end of the video where he taught it. It is genius. He showed how it worked. Then demonstrated it again. It still fools you after you know how it's done.
Center Toss: This is the key toss you saw in the demo. This will work with any object that has some amount of weight to it.
Commentary: I don't care for it at the moment, but again, I don't have the gimmicks to try this out yet.
Now I know you're thinking, "You're probably friends with the folks at SansMinds and they asked to give a good review."
No. I truly love PhotoShop. I think Will Tsai has done a FANTASTIC job with the effect.
As he stated on the Cafe forums, what he put on the DVD was just a push to get you started. You can do anything you want with it. You can make your own photos.
To let you know that I am not giving this such a good review for any other reason besides me really liking the trick, I've decided to let you in on a secret: I hate performing. I like creating magic more. You couldn't make me perform if you tried. For the first time, I want to go perform. After watching PhotoShop, I wanted to go perform so badly. I will have to wait though, as the gimmicks are not here yet.
Overall, I highly recommend this product. If you've been on the fence about getting it, get off the fence right now, dig out the credit card, and buy it.
J.Slade
PhotoShop is an unbelievable piece of magic. You bring out a photo, and alter it anyway you want. And then you give it away.
If you haven't seen a demo, check it out: http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2519
The reviews on that site are just... I don't know what to say. Most of them had complaints of the gimmick and photo being stuck together due to heat. I understand that. The people that say that spectators figure it out... No. They won't. Seriously... Watch the very end of that demo and honestly tell me that you didn't pause it and re-watch it.
I did.
At least 10 times.
Teaching: Will goes over each trick very well. What I liked SO much was that they explanations didn't drag on and on forever. (Jacob's Ladder anyone)
G does come on at one point and teaches his companion effect to Gum or Ultra Gum. I don't know which.
Quality: The quality of the video was quite good. I wasn't surprised, as many companies seem to be catching up to T11.
Length: The DVD ran in around 36 minutes total. I think that every question I had in regards to the effect was answered in that amount of time.
Gimmicks: I'm having to wait for replacement gimmicks as is everyone who ordered from Penguin. So I can't comment at the moment.
Routines:
Kiss: You show a picture of a Hershey Kiss, and pop it out of the photo.
Commentary: A whole lot of people bought PS just for this. I, however, thought it was the weakest trick on the DVD. It is very good, but the other tricks blow this out of the water.
Mystery Card: We all know the plot. Imagine popping a folded up card out of the photo.
Commentary: I don't do mystery card plots. A lot of people do. This trick is very strong.
Mini Deck Routine: You show a photo with a miniature deck in it. This gets a laugh. You hold the photo over someone's hand. The deck falls out of it. Laughter ceases. You then do the invisible deck with the mini deck.
Commentary: I gotta say... I immediately wanted a mini ID. When the deck fell out of the photo...Gah. It just looks...sooo...good.
Spare Key: You are walking up to the front door with your date. You seem to have misplaced your key. You bring out the photo of the key and say it's your spare. You pop the key out, and unlock your door.
Commentary: At the right moment, this would drop jaws.
Sponge: You show a picture of a sponge ball. You set it on the table. The photo rises up off the table by itself and ends up resting on top of a sponge ball. You lift the photo. No more sponge ball in the photo.
Commentary: I HATE SPONGE BALLS. Like really bad. I never thought I would say this... I want some sponge balls now.
Balloon: You show a photo of deflated balloons. You reach into the photo, pull out the stem of the balloon, blow it up, put it back in the photo, and turn the photo around to reveal a partially blown up balloon.
Commentary: It just sounds awesome from the description doesn't it. Well... IT IS AWESOME. That would land a gig flat out by itself. It looks EXACTLY how I wrote it.
Quarter: You borrow a quarter, and put it in the photo visibly.
Commentary: You saw this at the end of the demo. It looks 100% like real magic in the demo doesn't it? I was waiting the entire DVD to get to that part, and started to panic when he never did it. Then it made it to the very end of the video where he taught it. It is genius. He showed how it worked. Then demonstrated it again. It still fools you after you know how it's done.
Center Toss: This is the key toss you saw in the demo. This will work with any object that has some amount of weight to it.
Commentary: I don't care for it at the moment, but again, I don't have the gimmicks to try this out yet.
Now I know you're thinking, "You're probably friends with the folks at SansMinds and they asked to give a good review."
No. I truly love PhotoShop. I think Will Tsai has done a FANTASTIC job with the effect.
As he stated on the Cafe forums, what he put on the DVD was just a push to get you started. You can do anything you want with it. You can make your own photos.
To let you know that I am not giving this such a good review for any other reason besides me really liking the trick, I've decided to let you in on a secret: I hate performing. I like creating magic more. You couldn't make me perform if you tried. For the first time, I want to go perform. After watching PhotoShop, I wanted to go perform so badly. I will have to wait though, as the gimmicks are not here yet.
Overall, I highly recommend this product. If you've been on the fence about getting it, get off the fence right now, dig out the credit card, and buy it.
J.Slade