Optical Illusions

Magic Cards
Magic has been around for centuries. It has even been associated with medieval times in stories of Merlin and King Arthur, which has made religious people believe that this was evil. And people who knew it and practiced it were considered to be heretics and were burned at the stake.

Now who would ever imagine that magic has now gained a more favorable popularity? With more than a handful of famous magicians amusing innumerable audiences, magic has never been this much loved before. This popularity has made a lot of people yearn to learn some magic tricks. One of the most basic is the use of magic cards.

A deck of cards is one of the most common props used by magicians. There are many forms of magic tricks a person can do with a deck of cards. Here's what one aspiring magician has to learn in manipulating magic cards:

The first thing that a person must learn is how to shuffle. This is done using both hands and by having a certain amount of cards on each hand. Then alternately put one card over the other until all the cards are in one stack then putting them together to form a uniform pile.

After that, one can start performing certain tricks that will both fool and amaze the audience. Some well known magicians can make a cigarette go right through a deck of cards while others can make a card float in the air with no visible strings attached.

The most basic trick that anyone can master however is letting someone pick a card and after shuffling it, picking that same card the person selected moments ago. There are so many other tricks one can do with a deck of cards and all it takes is some time to get to know these tricks, practice it then show off to friends.

Other than using magic cards, there are so many other tricks, which involve other props or paraphernalia such as a coin, a hanky, or even a small ball. The use of cards in performing a trick is merely an execution of various optical illusions and manipulation, which just goes to show that the hand is quicker than the eye.

Cards can be bought at the local specialty store or ordered online. Sometimes these come with other special packages that will make tricks more fun to perform and watch.

One secret that either a newbie or an expert can benefit on while using a magic card or just about any magic props is to not reveal the secret of how the tricks are done.

Preston Houer has been involved with the art of illusion and sleight of hand for over 30 years. Let Preston show you how to Have Fun With Magic. Visit His Site Today! <a href="http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com" title="http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com" target="_blank">http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com</a>

To Be Or Not To Be A Professional Or An Amateur Magician
An amateur magician is anyone who has a minimum amount of talent, skill and knowledge when it comes to performing magic tricks. He or she may be anyone who knows one magic trick or at least three magic tricks.

But basically, a more technical definition of an amateur magician is anyone who does not in any way practice magic as their trade, even if he or she knows four, five, six or more than a number of magic tricks. This is regardless of how good, better or excellent he or she may be in performing flourishes, sleight of hand or optical illusions.

However, there are those amateur magicians who try their very best to expand their current knowledge as well as repertoire and still practice magic as their primary source of income. People who do this are usually called hedge magicians. This is in order to differentiate them from authentic professional magicians who make practicing and performing magic as a trade and make an actual living doing so.

Meanwhile a professional magician is anyone who has a little bit more knowledge and talent compared to an amateur magician. These professional magicians know sufficient magic that makes it enough for them to use it as their primary source of trade and income, as well as not using magic to assist them in a trade other than magic.

So technically, even if a barber performs his job using magic and no matter how many tricks he or she knows and is capable of, that barber is still not considered as a professional magician because his primary trade is cutting hairs and not necessarily being a magician.
Another way to differentiate a professional magician from an amateur is by the way he or she does flourishes.

According to the Online Encylopedia of Magic, a flourish is any sleight that is performed for the purpose of entertaining an audience and does not in any way contain any moves that are hidden. Most sleights that are performed are done so in order to deceive a captive audience and to do something that can not be detected. Meanwhile, a flourish is any trick that is done to draw the audience?s attention away from where an actual sleight is simultaneously being performed.

There are some magicians who consider the performance of a flourish as simply a finger exercise and not really actual pieces of performance. But those magicians who do put in and include flourishes in their act are considered by some of their fellow magicians as a seriously skilled performer.

If a performance consists of a card trick wherein the cards are spread out on the table and when a performer does a pressure card fan, the image that that performer projects is one of professionalism and experience. But a performer of magic who simply holds the cards and then spreads them slightly, may then be considered more as an amateur. Although this may or may not be true or this may not be considered as a hard fact, this is the perception and the impression that a performing magician usually gives to an audience.

Flourishes are done not just as a form of show-off to the audience, a flourish is also done for the purpose of presenting just how a performer is truly dedicated to the magic act. It also shows the degree of professionalism one has for the performance.

When a flourish is done, it makes it easier to know the difference between a magic trick performed by an expert magician and your friendly neighborhood Jim who is doing a card trick.

A skilled performer comes off as a natural and will ultimately receive more credit for his or her performance as well as recognition, not to mention that good old respect for the skills he or she has.

When a spectator is looking at a magic trick where the occasional flourish is done, that performer is also seen as more than a magician but a person who is passionate at what he or she is doing. It is therefore so much easier to hire a magician who has more skills and experience than one who needs to practice his or her craft more.

Preston Houer has been involved with the art of illusion and sleight of hand for over 30 years. Let Preston show you how to Have Fun With Magic. Visit His Site Today! <a href="http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com" title="http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com" target="_blank">http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com</a>

Optical Illusion And Magic
Perhaps, optical illusion and magic are no different from each other for both share the same effects: they amaze and fascinate and deceive the human eye.

A suspecting audience will lose the chance of catching the trick if you are perfectly endowed with sleight of hand skill and interest.

Your eyes can be deceived both by magician?s hand dexterity and apparent psychological persuasion (patter). The apparent patter of a magician combined with quicksilver hand skill is a perfect match to a dubious crowd.

Practical Optical Illusions

Optical illusions can be carried out in front of a large or medium size audience or can be performed using pictures especially if you have no immediate contact with the person you are trying to communicate with.

Pictures that visibly change their color or physically modifies along the way to keeping a long stare at them or by following simple rules or instruction helps you baffle your friends and amaze them of your ingenuity.

Optical Illusion is Magic

Magic is based on optical illusion because it involves the use of deceitful tricks that tends to help you perform the unnatural. Some of the most famous illusionists of time like Harry Houdini perform magic using a technique called Pepper?s Ghost.

In Pepper?s Ghost illusory technique, the use of glass fibers are perfectly positioned to create a hologram figure of the object you are trying to hide. Special effects and the use of black background are also critical to the performance of technique.

In the late 1800s, Harry Houdini first performed his major magic trick in front of a large audience by making an elephant disappear and making if appear again according to his own willing.

Since then, a lot of his contemporaries began making use of this type of strategy until it was patented in the late 1860.

Magic is a type of Illusion

You can hardly separate magic from optical illusion because the one is characteristic of the other. Magic involves the use of tricks that involve the quick hand and the use of colors and objects that seem to block the actual image of the main subject.

Specific productions (magic types) are achieved which shadows the image of the main object being given attention to.

For example, a glass of water that is apparently empty is actually lined with a clear material while the inside is stuff with material which you may show to your audience as a product of your magic (coins flowing from an empty bottle) when taken out.

Preston Houer has been involved with the art of illusion and sleight of hand for over 30 years. Let Preston show you how to Have Fun With Magic. Visit His Site Today! <a href="http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com" title="http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com" target="_blank">http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com</a>