Levitation images are surreally compelling - and they are actually quite simple to do.
Some weeks ago i posted the following image for the hatters tea party
Below, i will explain the basic steps for creating an image like this using photoshop.
1. Think about your setting and your model. You want to achieve a sense of the surreal, the eery, or the whimsical and to do this you want the image to be as believable as possible. It is helpful to have the model wearing free flowing clothes that can drape over the points of support. For the image above, i made sure that my skirt and my shirt were flowing over the edge of the table i was lying on.
2. Now think about what you are going to use to support the model. You want something that will provide good support (keep your model safe!), but will be relatively easy to paint out of the image in photoshop. A stool or coffee table will work well. A chair with a back will be more problematic.
3. Set your camera on a tripod and compose your shot. Make sure you have a consistent source of light. Use the manual setting and figure out an appropriate shutter speed and aperture. Focus on the support (that's where your model will be ), and switch from autofocus to manual focus so that none of the settings change between shots.
3. Set up the support and pose your model. Make sure to drape part of their clothing over the edge. Take a few shots in different poses. Here's the shot i chose for the tea party image.
4. Once you have your final pose, make sure to take a picture of the scene without the model or the supports.
5. Apply the same processing steps to both your images. Then open both of them in one document as layers in photoshop.
6. Make sure your empty room is the bottom layer, and the image with the model is on top.
7. Click on the model layer and then add a mask. Make sure the mask is active, and then click on the brush tool. Make sure the foreground colour in your colour palette (on the left) is black. Using a soft brush, carefully paint out the stool / table that the model was using as a support. If you accidentally paint over something you shouldn't have, type X, and then the foreground colour will switch to white - and now you can use your brush to paint back in what you accidentally took out.
8. To make the image look real, it is always a good idea to add a shadow. There are different ways of doing this and it can be a bit finicky. I am a bit afraid of trying to cover too much here, so i am going to leave this piece for now - but i will gladly add in my approach to making shadows if there is an interest.
9. One important suggestion - remember to save your work along the way! Nothing is more frustrating than to have a few hours worth of work disappear into the ether :)
And that's pretty much it! try to keep it simple the first time out - once you've got the hang of the concept you can have tons of fun with it!
For those of you who like a more visual explanation, here is a video on youtube that i found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q79GcFSwIAk
and for inspiration, here is a link to photos on 365 with the tag "levitation"
http://365project.org/tags/levitation
Let me know if you have any questions. I've kind of glossed over some of the photoshop concepts (brushes, for example), but i am happy to explain these if needed.
The left hand got a bit mutilated in the process, so I either need to learn how to work more precise in Photoshop, or I need to keep my fingers together :-)
@catwhiskers this is such a cool image! but yeah - it's amazing how physical you need to get with the concept... i think the shadow looks impressive! what are your thoughts on her feet? i struggled with that when i did my rag doll shot, trying like anything to be on tip toe and making it look as tho' my feet were just dangling....
@stiggle this is quite glorious! i take it you took the replace background approach? i think with the pose and the different white textures that it comes off quite nicely here... generally i look for a floor and / or a shadow to give some context to the floating, but i don't think that's quite needed here...
i've been in la la land the last few days and was just reminded that i should tag those who've expressed an interest in the photoshop tutorials... apologies!
@northy thanks for the tag noisy! I had already seen this and was trying to figure out how to accomplish it! I really like @olivetreeann 's idea! I may just go with that!
Thanks, @northy... I briefly saw it and will try to play with it over the next few days. Work and an incredibly stupid eye infection are slowing me down this week. We'll get there. :)
@northy Yes, doing the levitation set up and processing is the easy part, getting the right pose so it looks natural is the hard part. LOL
I was not happy with the left foot, but that was the foot she was standing on, the other foot she was able to pose somewhat. I think I need a gymnast for a model next time. LOL
My original idea was to have her more horizontal, I had a ladder, but it was a little dicey for her, so we used a chair and it just didn't work well.
I want to go more, and next time I will think the shot through first to make sure I have the right tools and props to pull it off ;-))
@northy I'm not sure what you mean by the "replace background approach". I opened the background layer, which is a texture I found on internet. Then clicking "place" I put the levitation image on top. I created a mask and using the brush, I wiped out everything except the levitating person. I find that using the brush requires a steady hand and mine isn't that steady, look at that poor mutilated hand... Should I have used a different approach?
@stiggle there is not a right way or a wrong way, but what you did is a more challenging approach because, as you found, you had to worry about masking out all around the model, not just the part with supports, and you would have had to worry about lighting to make sure the floating subject matched the background...
The instructions above would have the model already in the background, and you just have to mask out the supports... As the model and background would be taken in the same lighting conditions, you wouldn't have to worry about making adjustments to make them match up...
@catwhiskers :). Yes - it's a bit of trial and error... And until you've tried it, I find, it's hard to know what might work well as compared to what doesn't work so well... With my rag doll shot I kept trying to balance on my toes and kept falling over just as the shutter opened.. My husband was rolling his eyes at me the whole time ;p
First attempt. Not a very good subject but it was a great learning curve! Thought I'd got the light right but once in photoshop and the original taller table had been deleted the shadows seemed much more visible. I ended up changing the background as the original one was a light coloured plain wall.
@salza this is great! i don't think the background is too busy... i think adds to the surreal and whimsical effect of the overall image... you are dressed in a way that contrasts nicely with the background, and were even careful to have the umbrella against the trees, rather than the sky (which it would likely have gotten lost in)...
i think i would have done something with the shadow - maybe a bit darker and a bit shorter... is it your real shadow? or one you created in PS? it looks a little long compared to the other shadows in the image...
but all in all - this looks great and it's a wonderful first attempt!
@northy Mira it is my actual shadow! At first I took it out but didn't like the effect. In PS it appeared slightly darker. It was fun putting this together so I may well try again.
OK... I finally had a few minutes to focus on this levitation idea. It was fun! I have to think more carefully about how to set up the shot, but I wanted to give it a try before it got away from me. Thanks for all of the information... very helpful!
@whimsicalgrateful so sorry that you had the frustration of losing work along the way... as for the teacup... i found that it *does* look funny if the teacup is on a level.. it seems to look better canted... when i did my shot, i took a second one with the teacup on the table on its own, propped up with some folded paper... but i really do like your subtle approach to levitation here... i think you've made it work really well - made it look like it's the most natural thing in the world and that's what makes for an effective levitation shot :)
@northy Thank you for the folder paper tip. I wonder if the funny look comes from the lack of shadows you get when the cup is level. Are you planning on doing a tutorial on shadows too? I am so enjoying all the sandbox tutorials, even though I get through them really slowly... Thank you.
@whimsicalgrateful Marta... i think it's just that when it's on the level it doesn't look as realistic... i don't think it has to be tilted by much, but perfectly level is more likely to scream "photoshop" if you know what i mean...
not sure if shadows have much to do with it... you would get shadows regardless :) i think shadows are on the list for a sandbox tutorial, but i've kind of lost track, i'm afraid...
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The left hand got a bit mutilated in the process, so I either need to learn how to work more precise in Photoshop, or I need to keep my fingers together :-)
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I was not happy with the left foot, but that was the foot she was standing on, the other foot she was able to pose somewhat. I think I need a gymnast for a model next time. LOL
My original idea was to have her more horizontal, I had a ladder, but it was a little dicey for her, so we used a chair and it just didn't work well.
I want to go more, and next time I will think the shot through first to make sure I have the right tools and props to pull it off ;-))
The instructions above would have the model already in the background, and you just have to mask out the supports... As the model and background would be taken in the same lighting conditions, you wouldn't have to worry about making adjustments to make them match up...
:)
i think i would have done something with the shadow - maybe a bit darker and a bit shorter... is it your real shadow? or one you created in PS? it looks a little long compared to the other shadows in the image...
but all in all - this looks great and it's a wonderful first attempt!
Thanks for the thread, descriptions, and all the examples. No time to do this now, but so glad to have the info!
not sure if shadows have much to do with it... you would get shadows regardless :) i think shadows are on the list for a sandbox tutorial, but i've kind of lost track, i'm afraid...