Levitation...

[MarkyLandon]

To do this shot you'll need to know the Wingardium Leviosa spell from Harry Potter. Only joking it's a photoshop trick.

Place your camera on a tripod or other surface that won;t move. Set your camera to manual and dial in an aperture/ISO/shutter speed that gives a godd exposure of the intended subject and background. You need to set up in manual to avoid things changing between the two shot's you are about to take. You can use flash to help the lighting if it's dark, but again make sure you're in manual rather than ETTL so that things are consistent.

Take one shot of the plain background with no "floatee" in the frame.

Then move the floatee into the picture and "support them". In this case I held my daughter up but you could use a chair or a stool to hold them up. Be aware of what is holding them up and where the support is as you'll be deleting this later in post processing. Try have as little of the support as possible obscuring the subject. (e.g. hands flat underneath vs wrapped around the body as it will be easier to delete/remove them later.

Fire off a second shot... or if you have no hands free get someone else to do this. A remote release or cable release really helps as again you don;t want any camera movement between the two shots.

Bring both shots into photoshop as seperate layers, the blank background on the bottom. This will also work in elements or gimp, basically anything that will let you use layers.

In photoshop use a layer mask to punch through the upper layer to reveal the background on the layer below, thus erasing the support and giving the illusion of levitation. In elements you may need to use a more distructive method and erase the support from the top photo but the effect is the same. You are trying to seemlessly erase the hands/chair etc supportng the floatee to reveal the plain background on hte layer beneath them.

Enjoy... perhaps post your attempts here. You can see my blogspot for where I originally got the inspiration for my attempt. Mark's Mutterings: Fionas First Float

[MO Photos]

Cool, but would you mind sharing the original picture as well?

[dionv]

Nice!

I 2nd the request for originals for comparison.

I *think* I see a little bit of what might be your arm on the left of the photo, parallel to her outstretched arm and leading down to her cheek. Does that fit with where you were supporting her?

Thanks for sharing!

[MarkyLandon]

original attached. it's not part of my flickr stream so i can't embed it sorry.

[MarkyLandon]

Dion, I think what you are referring to is infact her other arm ? As you can see above I was supporting from below holding her up from underneath. My son pressed the shutter release as I was occupied with both arms busy. As soon as the shot was taken we fell in a heap in fits of giggles.

[dionv]

Originally Posted by MarkyLandon

Dion, I think what you are referring to is infact her other arm ? As you can see above I was supporting from below holding her up from underneath. My son pressed the shutter release as I was occupied with both arms busy. As soon as the shot was taken we fell in a heap in fits of giggles.

Nope, I can see her other arm, just peeking out from behind.

I think that It's the shadow of her arm against the wall that I'm seeing. (Looking at it with fresh eyes this morning.)

Still, a great shot. (Adds another item to the "List Of Things To Try")

[jamesrdroy]

Mark,
I found your pic so inspiring, and your write up so attractive, I just leaped up, set the chair, didnt even take time to think up a new pose (So copied not only your idea and process but the whole thing), and processed the first 4 pics I took. These are what I got. I promise to do this more justice tomorrow when I have a little more time. I just had to do this one immediately. Oh, and your pic is just mindblowing!
Thank you so much!
I've named the pics after your daughters' spell.

[MarkyLandon]

i like the one with him reading looking so relaxed in what is an impossible position. Great job !! It's fun isn;t it ?? And the kids love it. My daughters have loved taking prints into school to amaze their friends that they can secretly "float". Ah the age of innocene and not knowing about photoshop.

[marline]

yayy!! this is going to be my next challenge.I love what u did and thanks for the tutorial mark

[Shutterbugdeb]

That is so cool! Thanks for sharing.