Quick three step tutorial for creating an anamorphic effect from a photograph.

There are other ways to do this, but I would say that this is even great to make a blueprint/guide if you want to DRAW something to generate the effect on say, a sidewalk!

The final result is this:



Anyway, the short and sweet:

1- Take a photo of something sitting on a rectangular area. If you want to emulate what I did with the video, make sure the rectangular base is a letter size page and that when you take the photo, none of the objects stick out of the frame the page creates. Remember the angle from which you took the picture and make sure the same camera you used (lens-focus length) is the one you use later to make the video.

2- Now select only the page area with all it's contents and paste it into an image the size of the printable area of a letter sized paper (somewhere around 8.2x10.7").

3- Finally stretch the image (it's better if it's LARGER than the image you're pasting it into, that way you don't lose quality) so it the corners of the white page you used as a base fit the corners of the image you're pasting it into.

That's it! You're done!
Now print it in high quality and have fun!

As I said, you could also do this to make a reference/guide image  to draw on a flat surface.