Levitation

haha excellent stuff!!! Really really well done!
 
well im stumped, youve even got the shadows in the baby one, i cant see any flat spots, so not held up by anything, im baffled and want to learn they give a great perspective
 
kenbar said:
well im stumped, youve even got the shadows in the baby one, i cant see any flat spots, so not held up by anything, im baffled and want to learn they give a great perspective
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perhaps just throw the baby into the air and get a quick shutter speed shot (and then catch the baby) ;)
 
Thanks for posting these, they are great images and they led to an entertaining evening trawling the interwebs and the discovery (for me) of Philippe Halsman who might be becoming one of my favourite photographers.
 
twitch said:
Indeed a great shot..
Though the shadow of the flower pot to the left is facing the wrong way ???

:)
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Interestingly.... I didnt touch the shadow on the flower pot.... so that must be a natural one! :thinking:
 
Many thanks for all your kind comments about my photos.

So the way I did the first one was as follows.

Camera on tripod. Fixed focal point. And shoot the rest as quick as possible to avoid changes in the natural light......

Shot 1: The man in the picture holding his child up in the air by the baby resting on his upturned palm, and steadied by his other hand. Babies mum standing just behind dad with rattle to make baby look in the correct direction.
Take a few more contingency shots of baby floating in different positions.

Pause: Mum takes baby away

Shot 2: Dad repositions hands to be "levitator", and looks at where baby was. Two girls in the shot also hold their gaze at the position of where baby was, and do top quality "oh my god" style impressions!

Shots 3-6: A repeat of the above but with slightly different positions so I have stuff to work with.

Open Photoshop :D

Blend the photos together by using layers and the eraser tool. This removes "mum with rattle" from the shot, and dads supporting hand.
Unfortunately this also removes babies left leg and left arm.

Copy babies right leg. Flip it about a bit, tidy up the cut.... reposition. Remove buckle from "wrong" side of shoe and replace. Baby has 2 legs again!

Go to other photo (one of the contingency shots) and find babies right arm in different position from the main shot, and copy the right arm.

Paste it into Blended shot.... and flip it round to make it a left arm.
position it. tidy it. Baby has 2 arms again!

Build up babies tummy area so compression point of dads hand during the "lift" shot is removed. Did this using clone tool, and a bit of liquify tool.

Remove the shadow of dad holding baby up, and recreate a new shadow using brush and clone tools. We now have a "true" shadow of baby flying.

Go to background and remove a few distracting artefacts (weeds, cables) that (to be fair) the Dad should have tidied in his garden before the event ;-):LOL:

Hope you find the above explanation interesting and useful.

The key points are: Tripod. Mulitple shots. Take them quick so you minimise light changes, and of course...... lots of practise with your Photoshop skills! :rules:
 
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timmygcsc2308 said:
cool stuff! really love it.
your inspiration made me look at how to do it..just done this:
http://www.upload3r.com/serve/121010/1286922318.jpg
(linked so as not to 'thread spoil')
but that kinda just looks lasso cut and pasted lol.

great images
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I'm glad I inspired you! Inanimate objects will always look a little bit more "pasted in".

My advice, use humans, and get some natural light in the picture (like the one of my daughter flying in the lounge) so it shows the person was "actually" there. :rules:
 
Auwyn said:
Thanks for posting these, they are great images and they led to an entertaining evening trawling the interwebs and the discovery (for me) of Philippe Halsman who might be becoming one of my favourite photographers.
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Isn't it amazing how one photo (of anything) can lead you down a path that you wouldnt have otherwise gone.... and launch you into a world of discovery.

I have done this many times, and was actually how I first found the "levitation" idea. (y)
 
That is a novel twist on photography!!

I wonder if the same thing works with cats? :eek: :LOL: :D
 
Nice work Mark.
David blaine would be proud of you.
Baby, teenager - what's next ?
 
kman said:
How did you set the 2nd one up Mark?
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The second one was much easier.

I put my daughter on a stool, and got her to hold her body in the position you see in the photo. Touching the sofa..... legs dropped, left arm down a bit etc.

She held the pose, and made various faces whilst i fired off a quick set of 3 or 4 shots with the D90 on a tripod. No flash, just loving the afternoon light streaming through from the left. She then jumped off the stool, and got herself and it out of the frame, and I fired off another couple of shots.

Loaded them onto my Macbook Pro, and selected the 2 best images and put them into photoshop.

Here is the original
DSC_5319_small.jpg


I then blended the two together, once again using the eraser tool with a
semi-soft edge.

Having removed the stool from the primary image, I then set about removing the pressure point of the stool. It had made her tummy appear flat of course.

So I used the liquify tool, set an area to protect, and pulled her jumper down slightly so that it removed the flatness of the preasure point, and also looked like it was hanging down naturally, as it would if she was floating.

And thats it! The processing in photoshop took little more than about 10 minutes.

If you have the following items... you too can easily create a shot like this.

  • Camera
  • Tripod
  • photoshop (or similar)
  • basic photoshop skills
  • a willing model, who can take direction ;)

Feel free to post your own "levitation" pics in this thread
 
Thanks, i tried a few today, see what you think:








The PP to pull down to remove the pressure point was the tricky bit - I was just trying out a free transform on a selected area so its not so perfect. I'l try the liquify tool next time.
 
kman said:
Thanks, i tried a few today, see what you think:








The PP to pull down to remove the pressure point was the tricky bit - I was just trying out a free transform on a selected area so its not so perfect. I'l try the liquify tool next time.
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Excellent attempts (y)
 
This really is a fantastic thread to read and look at.
 
:clap::clap::clap::clap:

really well done given me a project fer the school hols and when am bored thanks
 
kman said:
Thanks, i tried a few today, see what you think:








The PP to pull down to remove the pressure point was the tricky bit - I was just trying out a free transform on a selected area so its not so perfect. I'l try the liquify tool next time.
Click to expand...

Well done! Great to see somebody having a go themselves!

I think the first one, you need to use the liquify tool to loose that pressure point. You'll be amazed how effective that tool is for this type of thing. Go and learn it!

The next 2 photos both look great. But if I were you, I would try to position it so there was more of a clear gap between you and the floor. The sofa in the background kind of fills that gap, and you loose some of the effect.

Just my thoughts..... hope they help (y)
 
A cool technique, I must try it, thank's
 
markbingo said:
Well done! Great to see somebody having a go themselves!

I think the first one, you need to use the liquify tool to loose that pressure point. You'll be amazed how effective that tool is for this type of thing. Go and learn it!

The next 2 photos both look great. But if I were you, I would try to position it so there was more of a clear gap between you and the floor. The sofa in the background kind of fills that gap, and you loose some of the effect.

Just my thoughts..... hope they help (y)
Click to expand...

thanks thats a good point about the background sofa. I will look at the liquify tool too!
 
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