As you know, face-in-the-hole boards involve quite literally putting your face in a hole. This creates an illusion in which you magically become a character in a funny scene. What we have found over our many years in this business is that the photo results can vary depending on how you put your face in the hole. But, you may ask, why should this be? Is there a special technique? Putting your face in a hole isn’t hard, is it?
Well, no. But there are various factors to consider in trying to get the best overall effect. To illustrate these, let’s look at a few face-in-hole photos that didn’t quite work out, and think about why this might be.
Failed Face-in-the-hole Pictures
Okay, the clue is in the name. Face-in-hole board. You put your face in the hole. In this case somebody has gone AWOL. Nul points.
This is progress. The face in the left is in the hole, but it isn’t in the hole. You can see a lot of daylight around it and the angle is wrong. A kneeling position would have worked better here. Sometimes what goes on behind the board can be as funny as what goes on at the front!
This is not his fault. He’s doing it right, with his chin resting in the bottom of the hole. But the hole is much, much too big (we didn’t make that one). What kind of face would you need to have to fit in that? I mean he’s got his hands in there as well! Does that look like he’s a pirate? No, it looks like a child’s little head in a massive hole where an unfeasibly massive pirate’s face should be.
We try to cut our face holes just right, with smaller face holes if appropriate, and at a suitable height for children.
This one isn’t bad at all, but look at the fellow top left. That’s one of the challenges of putting your face in a hole: knowing which way to face. A quick look at the front of the board would have helped here!
How to get it right!
Now let’s look at a few good ones to see how it goes when it’s done well.
Okay, the beard helps and the hair colour happens to be the same, but he has managed to a) face the right way and b) get his face well into the hole to stop any daylight getting through. This is face-in-hole technique perfection. Well done that man!
Here’s a vintage one. Is the hair theirs, or have they just positioned their faces perfectly? Answers on a postcard.
Which of these has the better face in hole technique? The lady on the left, of course! She has her chin in there and her face is poking right through. That will look a lot better from the front than the chappie’s effort, which is sort of a half-hearted crouch. Bend your knees and get your chin in there, man!
These two are doing their best with what they’ve got. On the left, it’s a perfect face -in-hole with no light leakage, the whole face is in there and the illusion works. On the right, the hole is a bit small for him, but he’s at least got as much of his face in there as he can.
Technique here is mostly good, but people come in different shapes and sizes so the perfect face in hole photo is an elusive thing. And we’re sorry about the board. We hope you get over it quickly.