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Broken Mirror

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PATD ROPES

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Levitation Photography 7 Tips for Getting a Great Image

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Levitation images are magical! They draw the viewer in and make them think about what's not quite right. If you search the internet for levitation photography, you will find amazing examples. However, levitation photography hasn't become wildly popular yet. I assume it's because levitation photography looks really difficult.

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The first time I saw a levitation shot, I stared at it for 15 minutes in astonishment. I could not conceive how the image was captured; I was captivated by the story it conveyed, it was surreal, magical and awe-inspiring. Conceptualizing the image and executing it can prove to be rather difficult and meticulous. Thankfully, photographers who have mastered the techniques involved in levitating have decided to share their secrets with us.

Photo Credit (Featured image and the above two): Ravshaniya - 500px | Website

I have heard that levitation images seem magical, but they don't seem magical, they are magical. Because magic is all about challenging the impossible and that is what levitation shots are, they defy what is natural. Levitation images have been around for quite some time, they have been executed all around the world and yet every time you glance at one, your eyes can't help but feel drawn to it. Some images are so well constructed that it's hard to understand the "secret" behind it and that is probably why they are so fascinating; it creates a curiosity.

Photo Credit (above): Rey Vo Lution - 500px | Facebook - Nikon D90 50mm

The interesting thing about levitation shots is that because the concept of a floating subject is so enchanting, the rest of the image can be simplistic in composition. Rey Vo Lution, a seasoned levitation photographer states that while the composition can be simplistic, it is also of utmost importance.

It is important to note that post-processing plays an important role in levitation images and it's impossible to get final results without Photoshop. The final image will most likely be a composition consisting of two or more photos.

Photo Credit: Sebastien Barriol - 500px | Facebook | Website - Canon EOS 5D 85mm

The two main ways to achieve this are compositing completely different shots and "building" the composition or taking a few photos in the exact same position with the camera sitting on a tripod. For the image below, I took a shot of an empty room and then had my subject lie on a chair. I layered both images in Photoshop and just masked out the chair. I find that this way is a lot easier for those who are novices when it comes to Photoshop.

Photo credit: Dani Diamond - 500px | Facebook - D800 16-35

Once the idea of the levitation shot is conceptualized, a suggestion is to grab paper and pen. Brooke Shaden always draws her idea out and then goes into the field to capture asset of images that will help her build her composition. Drawing a sketch to visualize your idea, even if you can't draw, can help you understand what you will need for the each image of your final composition.

Marina Gondra says that "the difficulties of levitation depend on the position of the character. Sometimes, you just need to give a simple jump and other times your body needs to seem levitating in strange positions. Consequently, the clothing and hair take an important role inside the photograph. If the character is supposed to be floating, so are the clothing and hair."

There is always two different aspects in every levitation shot. There is the background and there is the character. Typically to capture the entire scene, the shot will have to be on the wider side. For the subjects to really stand out a narrow DOF is recommended. However, when shooting wide, the DOF won't be shallow enough. To correct this, Marina uses the Brenizer method to create a very shallow DOF.

Photo Credit: Marina Gondra - 500px | Facebook

Here is a short time lapse of how Marina reconstructs the subject.

The angle shot at is extremely crucial as well. This is a matter of individual preference. Personally, I try to get down as low as possible and shoot my subjects upwards; the low angle makes the subject look a lot higher and further away from the ground.

Photo credit: Dani Diamond - 500px | Facebook - D800 16-35

Once the background is captured, you should take the image of the subject. It's recommended to try and take the pictures of the character and background in the same place and at the same hour. When it comes to compositions people look for the inconsistencies. Lighting and shadows are the first thing that will give away the fact that the photo was a composition of images, which is why shooting in both the same time and area is a smart idea. If this is not possible, the lighting will have to be processed in postproduction, which can prove to be difficult.

Although every aspect of a levitation shot is crucial, the most important part of the image is capturing the body of your subject in a natural position. Whether the subject is jumping or lying down, the body's language has to match the levitation. Self-portrait photographer Marina Gondra sometimes practices in front of a mirror before shooting herself. You can also take into account that you will be able to rotate the image in Photoshop, so you can jump in a simple way without hurting yourself.

Photo Credit: Luke Sharrat - Facebook | 500px

Try to shoot with a shutter speed of at least 1/200 or higher. If there isn't much light, just raise the ISO. You don't want the images coming out blurry from slow shutter speeds. To make things easier you can concentrate on the body for one shot, then the dress and eventually the hair. It may be hard to blend the images in Photoshop but like all other genres of photography, practicing is the key.

The great thing about levitation images is that it let's your imagination run wild. It takes creativity to a whole new level.

Photo Credit: Jay Russell - 500px

Using a wired or wireless (if you plan to take self portraits) is highly recommended. If your camera moves even a drop between shots it can be annoying to realign them later. I happen to use this ( Canon Nikon) which has some advanced options for my astrophotography but a cheaper one will do the job as well.

Cant wait to see your results! As always feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook and tag me!

Dani Diamond | Facebook | Facebook Page | 500px | Instagram

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Secrets Of The Best Levitation Shots Shared

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The first time I saw a levitation shot, I stared at it for 15 minutes in astonishment. I could not conceive how the image was captured; I was captivated by the story it conveyed, it was surreal, magical and awe-inspiring. Conceptualizing the image and executing it can prove to be rather difficult and meticulous.

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Many says floating in the air, or so called levitation is impossible. Well, in fact everything is possible, all you need to do is believe yourself, seriously, believe that you can achieve it! And uh, believe that the Photoshop can help you achieve it. Okay, I'm talking about achieving levitation with the help of cheat tool like Photoshop.

Levitation is said to be some sort of skill that allows human to float in the air and yes, nobody did that successfully until now. However, it's an interesting concept that has been played out in many movies to impress people, thus attracting photographers to produce their own fantastic work of levitation.

Every miracle needs evidences right? Well, we've 'flied' though several websites to get you 56 very inspiring and somehow a little bit spooky examples of levitation photography with different kind of 'floating' pose. Also we are not gonna just show you how people 'fly', but teach you how to 'fly' with 15 tutorials collected into this post. So all you have to do is sit there for now, enjoy these inspiring examples and, may be, get yourself 'floating' in the air afterward!

Floating Without Boundaries

Because I Don't Trust Airplanes. I believe airplane is much more safer! Gorgeous shot with natural pose, loved the idea very much! (Image Source: redredhead)

Broken Wings. Well, this is simply epic. Respected the hard work of the photographer too, you can probably check out the entire process behind this epic shot. (Image Source: Jenny Jacobsson)

Chasing Elephants. Amusing shot with perfect tone and extremely realistic shadows, faved this! (Image Source: Terra Kate)

Getting Food. I think standing will be easier to get the food, very interesting attempt by SANI GZ! (Image Source: SANI GZ)

Insomia. A typical use of levitation effect in ghost movies, very spooky yet excellent work! (Image Source: delila)

Levitating Baker. 'Something magical going on as Kim checks on her sugar cookies!' An impressive and magical work indeed. (Image Source: Royce Hutain)

Paradox. 'Seriously, I have never spent so much time editing a photo, 4 hours on Photoshop non-stop. There were a lot of things that I wasn't happy with when editing this photo I have about 10 PSD files sitting on my desktop at the time of writing and about 30 JPEG files, what a mess.' (Image Source: alexcottrillphotography)

Playing Piano. Every musical piece will sounds epic if you play with this style, stunning work! (Image Source: Anka Zhuravleva)

Scared Of Sleep. Scared of sleep? I'm scared of you. Deadly amazing work. (Image Source: The Dirty Projector)

Unity Of The Universe. 'I wanted to do a levitation photo because it's the best way I can demonstrate how great music makes me feel.' (Image Source: Anka Zhuravleva)

Violinist. Music is known for no boundaries, so is levitation. (Image Source: Anka Zhuravleva)

When Will I See You Again. A levitation work that talks a romantic love story, perfect expression. (Image Source: blakejacobsen)

Tutorial

Anatomy Of A Shot. Just as its name, this tutorial will show you the entire process of creating the photo with levitation effect as below. The secret weapon is rope.

Dreaming Of Flying. Extremely detailed article sharing how the author achieves the levitation in her photography, a must-see article.

Levitation Secrets Revealed! The Making & Behind-The-Scenes. A must-read for levitation photography's learner, as the author revealed his tricks for all his levitation photos, explained in video and photo format!

Floating In Photoshop. A comprehensive tutorial that lists out all tools and steps you need to get yourself 'floating' in the air.

Free Fall. Although this video tutorial guides you to create the photo with people 'falling', the described method can actually be used to create nice levitation work.

How To Float In Mid Air. 'In this photography tutorial I teach you how to take a picture of a person (or object) floating in mid air.'

How To - Levitation. Different with all tutorials here, this in-depth tutorial's gonna show you how to create 'levitating' objects.

How To Levitate. A tutorial that not only teaches you how to create the levitation effect, but also sharing the tips to make the entire work more realistic.

How To Levitate?. Easy levitation effect explained in this comprehensive tutorial with dual language.

How To Levitate - Levitating Photographer. 'I finally did a full behind the scenes video of the photoshoot and editing.'

How To Photograph A Flying Cat. Learn to shoot your flying car with this amusing yet thoughtful tutorial!

Levitation Photography. Discover how to defies the law of gravity with the power of Photoshop !

Levitation Photography And Working With Textures. Not really a tutorial for complete beginner but a good read for those who want to apply texture into its levitation production.

Levitation Tutorial. Step by step tutorial guaranteed to help you get anything 'levitating' in your photo, worth a read!

Simple Levitation. Tutorials before are too hard for you? Take this, the simplest tutorial to create your first levitation photo.

The Purist Method. This is actually not a tutorial, but a good documentation to show you how photographer creates levitation photo by just using jump method, which is also the method embraced by famous levitation photographer, Natsumi Hayashi.

Reflection

Honestly I'm quite surprised when I discovered there are thousands of quality levitation photos existed in the web. It seems that the concept has been played by many photographers over years. With such richful productions, I've been thinking what makes a good levitation photo for now?

I believe it will be an extremely quality photo with ultimately interesting or spooky concept applied like Broken Wings, Heaven and Insomia. Anyway it's also about personal taste, so I might prefer these kinds of photos more.

What's your favorite levitation photos in this showcase then? While I bet you will love Broken Wings also, let us know your true favorites in your comment!

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Levitation Photography: 65 Stunning Examples & Tutorials - Hongkiat

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Many says floating in the air, or so called levitation is impossible. Well, in fact everything is possible, all you need to do is believe yourself, seriously, believe that you can achieve it! And uh, believe that the Photoshop can help you achieve it.

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As a part of a personal 50/50 project (a photo a day for 50 days with a 50mm lens), I tried my first attempts at levitation photography and had a lot of fun doing it. This tutorial will walk you through the best methods to make a surreal levitation portrait; only a pinch of magic required.

Introduction

I think that creating a surreal portrait exemplifies the creative process. The entire experience, from planning to set up to shooting to processing, is a slow and methodical creative endeavor. When you have the intention of creating something surreal, all the constraints and bounds on your creativity are loosened.

With such loose constraints, you are limited only by your imagination and your results will directly reflect the your creative efforts.

Think of levitation as one of many elements of your photo. There are still a lot of other things to think about other than just the levitation part: your subject's pose, the setting, the light, makeup, clothing, props, and all the other technical elements of the shot. Think about what unique ideas you can bring to your levitation photography project.

Equipment

Tripod

Digital Camera

Step Stool or Similar (this is our magical levitation device)

Intervalometer (optional, helpful if making a self-portrait)

Photoshop

Techniques

There are more ways than one to levitate. The first and most rudimentary method is probably the most obvious:
The Jump Method
I tend to dislike the jumping method for a number of reasons: It's difficult to make look natural, it requires care to not fall and get hurt, and it's downright exhausting to perform. My very first attempt at levitation photography was a self portrait and I used the jumping method to make it.

Using only my camera on a tripod and an infrared remote to trigger the shots, I would jump and twist my body at numerous angles to try and capture a good levitation pose. The camera was set to continuous shooting mode in hopes that I could capture as many potential frames as possible.

Every once and a while I would get lucky and actually grab a frame right at the apex of my jump. I'm pretty sure numerous people walking by me on the beach thought I was absolutely off-my-rocker-crazy for jumping around like a complete fool, but I was actually pretty happy with the results.

I would like to say that this technique can work fairly well, but it's very difficult to get right and nearly impossible to safely make a photograph with your head lower than your feet without face-planting.

I have seen it used to great effect and it can be a fun, impromptu method to levitate your subject when you've forgotten your step stool. The best part of this method is that it's not necessary to perform any Photoshop tricks to get the final result. But you'll look like a complete fool doing it.
The Support Method
For the best results, you'll want to used the method below. It will require more pre-preparation and post-processing than just jumping, but it opens up the possibilities for composition tremendously. The support method is my preferred way to shoot a levitation portrait.

I used a simple $5 IKEA stool for almost all of my supported levitation photos. Using a support of some kind is preferable to jumping because it's possible to place your subject in more interesting poses. Putting your subject's head lower than their feet can result in a very surreal look and in my opinion has more impact than a photo where their body is more upright.

While easier on the model, the support method makes for a slightly more difficult shooting process. It requires compositing multiple images in post processing so it's necessary to carefully execute the shoot for the best results.
Shoot Two Photos
We will want to take two photos with the camera in the exact same position with identical framing. A tripod is absolutely necessary when shooting this kind of levitation portrait.

The first photo is the portrait and the second photo is an identically framed shot of just the scene without the subject. It's very helpful to use an identical focal point and identical exposure settings between the two photos.

Shooting in manual mode with manual exposure will ensure that neither the exposure nor focus point will drift when shooting (just don't bump your focus). Ensuring that these photos are identically framed and exposed will make the final compositing in Photoshop the easiest.

I prefer to shoot the portrait first for a couple reasons: it allows you to get your framing just right to complement your subject's pose, and it lets you see nearly the final result. Once you're happy with the framing, pose, and exposure and you've ensured that you got the best shot of your subject, have your subject exit the scene and then snap a quick shot of the bare setting.
Posing Tips
It's important to find a pose that doesn't look too much like your subject is supported on a stool. If they're just sitting on their bum or standing on the stool, it will likely be obvious that there is something supporting them and that it was just 'shopped out.

The best way for your subject to support themselves is on their back, chest or stomach. Since humans rarely support themselves with solely their back, chest or stomach, it makes it less apparent how they are supported in the final photo.

Similarly, placing your subjects head low to the ground is a great method to add tension to the photograph. We don't usually expect people's heads to be lower than their feet, so this helps contribute to the illusion of the photograph as a whole.

Post Processing

Post processing is done very simply in Adobe Photoshop with layer masks. It's easiest to explain this in a video, so check out the post processing video below:

Adding More Levitating Objects

Remember that you're not limited to just levitating a person. For the title image of this tutorial, I wanted to create a dreamlike setting for my model.

We made a single paper crane suspended from a piece of string and photographed it numerous times in different positions around the scene. Then it was just a matter of compositing all of the photos into a single image to give the effect that she was floating among a flock of origami cranes.

Conclusions

This technique is a ton of fun. It requires a little bit of practice and patience, but the results are almost always fun and interesting.
About the author: Ian Norman is a photographer, engineer and entrepreneur based out of Los Angeles, CA. He is deeply passionate about photography and takes great joy in teaching others what he has learned over the years. He recently started a new website called The Photon Collective, a new community for photographers. This article originally appeared there.

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How to Do Levitation Photography: A Tutorial

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As a part of a personal 50/50 project (a photo a day for 50 days with a 50mm lens), I tried my first attempts at levitation photography and had a lot of fun doing it. This tutorial will walk you through the best methods to make a surreal levitation portrait; only a pinch of magic required.