How to: Levitation Photography

I've been looking forward to trying levitation photography for a long time. For those of you who don't know what that is, I'll break it down. The idea is to get a picture where a person (or object) looks as though they are floating. In order to accomplish this, you must use at least two photos. Here are some shots that I took this week!

Here's how to do it.

Things you'll need.

1. A tripod

2. A camera that you can set to manual

3. A chair/ladder/stool anything to get your subject off of the ground

What to do:

1. Set up your tripod...using a remote would be useful, but not absolutely necessary

2. Do not move the camera!!! You'll need at least two shots and the camera should not move and the lighting should not change at all between those shots.

3. Take a photo of an empty background. Like the one below.

4. Take a photo of your subject posed however you want. Like the one below.

5. Open both of these images in Photoshop.

6. Bring up the one with the subject in it and click the layer in the layers box. 

  7. Drag that layer (should be labeled background) onto the photo without the subject as shown below.

8. Add a vector mask. After Layer 1 is highlighted, click the button circled in the photo below. The mask should be added to layer one and it should look the same as where the arrow is pointing. This will allow you to erase away any areas where you want background to show through. 

  9. Make sure the white box next to Layer 1 is highlighted, then click on the paintbrush tool. The colors in the boxes should show up as black and white. Make sure that black is the color on the left, as shown below. 

10. Begin painting over the areas that you want to get rid of. You can start with a big brush and work your way down to a smaller brush as you get closer to your subject. 

11. When you are getting very close to your subject, it can be helpful to use a small brush and lower the opacity. It seems to help blend the two layers, making the transition from one to another less obvious. It will be particularly helpful in areas like the one in the photo below. 

12. When you are happy with the final product. Flatten the image by right clicking one of the layers and then clicking 'flatten image.' 

13. Now you can do any edits that you want to the color, or you can smooth skin and remove blemishes. 

14. Finally, I like to add a shadow below the subject. I usually just use the burn tool to draw in the shadow on the flattened image, but if that is too harsh for your photo you can try something different. You can duplicate the Background layer by right clicking the Background layer and clicking 'duplicate layer'. Then use the burn tool to draw in the shadow on the new layer, reducing the opacity of the layer to suit your taste. 

Option 1:

Simply click the tool that is circled in the photo below and draw on the shadow. If another tool is visible in that spot, right click it and select the one in the photo.

Option 2:

Right click the Background layer and then select 'Duplicate Layer'. I window will pop up. Just select 'OK'. Then paint on the shadow.

Drag down the opacity until the shadow looks the way you want it to look. 

Here is the final result that I got while doing this tutorial.

Disclaimer: Actually a couple of disclaimers. I am not a professional photographer. This is my hobby. I hope to help new hobbyists and "momtographers" to learn new stuff about their cameras. I know that this is not the only way to do this in Photoshop, and maybe not even the best way...but it worked for me.