Yes, aside from global contrast adjustments, there’s a circular level and local contrast adjustment on the dancer, to make her stand out a little bit more

For sure!

I opened up an old Canon flatbed scanner and more or less removed anything that wasn’t the sensor or the mechanical assembly pulling it along. The optical assembly is hacked together with black foam board, an acrylic magnifying glass and too much gaffers tape.

Think of it as a pinhole shoebox camera with a scanner at the back, instead of photo paper or film.

And why is there a face just floating in mid-air?

I case you’re really wondering, the model has two legs, maybe three, the liquid effect is due to the very slow rolling shutter of the scanner, and how it draws motion.