Editing of a Levitation Photo

[KristineMN]

My oldest daughter and I have been experimenting with doing levitation photography lately and I'm trying to refine my editing when doing this style to get a clean look that looks more "believable".

Here is the latest we did, info and question below.


Soul (cool tones) | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Canon 60D with 24-70 f2.8 lens
ISO 100
f 2.8
1/250
70mm
Obviously this consists of 2 pictures but the same info applies to both.
Because of the nature of the photo and set up, I had some major editing in her far arm that required me to remake part of her arm and her fingers. I also noticed that some parts (of the transparent body) have harder edges which I tried to minimize and soften but I think I need more practice at and could use suggestions to help in that area. This one I made more of a cold feel with the tones just to set the mood, another warmer/natural version is available by following the flickr link.

My main question has to do with the transparency of the "soul". I simply reduced the transparency of that layer but it almost feels cartoonish, especially where the arms are concerned. I'm looking for critique on if this is working for the desired effect and any suggestions perhaps on how to better implement it if we decide to give this another shot or if I re-edit it.

Thank you in advance for any feedback I might get!

[BryanC]

I'm thinking the transparency issue has to do with the background and/or clothing. Her upper body, hair and boots have a certain level of transparency, while her legs seem to have less. The actual transparency level is the same for that layer, but the "apparent" look is inconsistent. I think it's a combination of where certain parts of her line up with certain parts of the background. The two extremes being:

(1) Her top, lighter color, in front of a part of the background that has the very light sky contrasted by dark trees...the "apparent" transparency is more noticeable at that level.

(2) Her jeans against that certain part of the background don't have that same "apparent" transparency. I think that's because of the similar levels between the two, it would take more reducing of the transparency layer to get that similar "apparent" transparency of the rest of her. But, doing this to the whole layer wouldn't even it out for the entire subject.

So, if I was to experiment with this, I would select those certain areas that needed more reducing than the others, different layers, to get that even amount of "apparent" transparency for her whole body. Or, if I was to do another shoot, I would try to find a more consistent background with more consistent clothing...and a certain contrast between the two. Lighter background, darker clothing...or vice-versa. Something else I would be tempted to experiment with would be a slightly different color treatment for the "soul" part of the image. Maybe, a slight de-saturation or a cooler overall tone. Just to experiment, anyway.

I think it's a pretty cool shot, though...I like the concept, and this is a great effort, well done. Your daughter looks like she was really into it, too. That's a major plus...tell her "well done", also.

[KristineMN]

Thankyou Bryan, I think you have something there, I hadn't thought about how her clothes or background would affect the transparency. I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong but I thi that is it. Perhaps I'll try brushing away transparency and see if I can get a more even look instead of applying to the whole image. That helps and definitely gives me something to play around with, thanks!

And yes, my daughter was definitely getting into it. That was a very uncomfortable pose for her to hold balancing on a stool (with me helping to hold up her legs and back a bit) but she pulled through and was excited to see the results.

[windrider86]

You might also try adding a slight "glow" to her out of body presence. Give it an ethereal feel

[rachb]

What an awesome idea. I used to be really into creating photos like this when I first got photoshop, then doing portraits got away from it... you have just inspired me to play around with my images more! I agree with the others that you should play with the transparency a bit- mostly the jeans and boot part on the "soul"... it is just a tad too dark. I don't see anything wrong with the arm section- so if that's what you were worried about, you did good!

[katia]

this is a cool edit and i think you did a great job!

now it has me thinking DAMN why didn't i think of doing something like this when that religious whacko was predicting the end of the world...you must have seen all those "post-repture" photos that were circling the internet, people changed their profile photos on FB to pictures of their empty clothing, lol.

that's what this reminds me of!