A proud dad has put his expert Photoshop skills to good use in order to create an impressive, and hilarious, gallery of doctored photos featuring his premature baby son.
Matt MacMillan’s son Ryan was born 9 weeks early and weighed less than 3 pounds. While certainly not the birth he and his wife had been expecting, Matt didn’t let Ryan’s diminutive size hinder the plans he had for a newborn photo shoot, just like the one he’d done for his daughter two years earlier.
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In fact, as he said on Bored Panda , little Ryan inspired Matt to steer the photo shoot in a new direction.
He decided to create a photo series featuring his son doing traditionally “manly things” to prove premature babies, like Ryan, aren’t as weak as they seem.
Here we see a very adult-looking Ryan dressed quite smartly and armed with a briefcase as he prepares to tackle another day at the officer.
Or, perhaps, the golf course. That sweater vest and hat combo is quite versatile.
Matt said each photo in the series took about 15-20 minutes to shoot, with most of the work happening in the setup and editing.
“First, I had to make props and find outfits for most of the pictures,” he explained . “The next step was setting up the scene, framing the shot, arranging props, and setting up the lighting where appropriate.”
Of course, some shoots proved more elaborate and significantly harder to pull off than others.
This shot of little Ryan working on his bench-press technique is just one example of Matt have to get pretty creative.
“For this one, I made a rig that hung from the ceiling,” he explained. “It mounted the camera and also held the barbell above Ryan so all he had to do was grip it rather than hold it up.”
And in case you were wondering, Ryan isn’t holding himself up in any one of these shots. He is, after all, still a preemie.
For his safety, and for the purpose of the photo shoot, someone was always holding Ryan, whether that was Matt or his wife.
When the baby’s mom helped out, Matt could step in and maneuver Ryan’s arms and legs into whatever position best suited that particular snap.
The rest was up to this dad’s Photoshop skills, which he used to make Ryan’s adorable pictures really come to life.
As Matt explained,
Ryan’s “manly” preemie photo shoot proved a hit with people online who looked forward to seeing every new photo as it was posted to Matt’s Instagram.
“People seemed to love the photos – there was a lot of disappointment when the series came to an end,” Matt recalled.
Each one of Ryan’s carefully crafted photos scored hundreds, sometimes thousands of likes, and Matt’s Instagram has now grown to over 10,000 followers.
While there were many fans, there are also some concerned people who weren’t too comfortable seeing a preemie baby in such often dangerous-looking positions.
This photo in particular was of great concern to some online users. Apparently an infant holding an ax that’s bigger than he is proved to be cause for alarm.
“Most people found them funny but there were always a few people that feared for Ryan’s safety,” Matt said. “I always explained how the ‘danger’ all came from Photoshop and he was always being held and was never in any harm.”
It’s been over a year since Ryan’s preemie photo shoot, but it’s clear Matt isn’t done having fun with his kids, his camera, and a little Photoshop magic.
A quick glimpse at Matt’s Instagram page shows he still enjoys making people online do a serious double-take with his bizarre, yet totally hilarious pictures. Hopefully the kids will find these pictures just as funny once they’re older, too.
As Matt pondered, “I’m curious to see what Ryan thinks of them 18 years from now when he’s actually grown up.”
