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.  

Take Your Own Christmas Card Photos

I know that I have been out of touch for a while, but it's that time of year...school  in session.  No worries, I graduate in May!!! Since it is also that time of year for Christmas photos and cards, I thought I would share some of mine with you and give you some tips on how to get something similar.

Not SOOC, but only the color balance is changed in post processing.

This was an easy photo to take.  It was taken at the Arboretum at the University of Kentucky.  We simply found a large tree with red/yellow leaves and took the shot.  We were turned at about a 70 degree angle from the sun that was about an hour away from setting.  The leaves blocked out some of the sunlight, but the rest created a nice glow behind us.  

Another favorite, this one is SOOC (except for the logo of course).

This was taken at a park near our home.  Considering that it was shot wide open (f 1.8 for my lens), I'm happy that it isn't terribly out of focus.  I love the fall colors.  It was cloudy that day, but we still had enough light to get a decent shot.  

Another one of my favorites. I am considering using this one as a cover photo for our Christmas cards.

The photo above is SOOC and was taken when the sun went behind a cloud. It was about an hour before sunset.  We were facing the sun and the camera was slightly above us, on a small hill.  I just love the colors in this one.  

Love this one of us throwing leaves. It is edited, but only the color.

This was shot about two hours before sunset. You can see that the sun is coming over my right shoulder.  This hasn't been sharpened to be posted yet, but you get the idea. 

These are some of my favorites, let me know which should go on the cover of our Christmas cards and I'll do a complete tutorial on the favorite.

Update....

Here are the photos that we chose for our Christmas card.

Better Photos in 4 Steps

Step 1 Lighting (Part B)

Hello everyone! Sorry that it's been a while since my last post. It has been a busy week in the Harlow household. We have spent a great deal of time with family and friends and even took a weekend trip. Since my husband is obsessed with cars, we visited Mopar Nationals in Hebron, OH. I'll share a few pics later.

I think I might have made the last post in this series too long, but I want to share with you all that I feel is important (or at least all that I know) about lighting. I didn't get around to talking about working in Auto. If you feel that you're not ready to switch to manual, don't feel alone. I spent several years (yes, years, but I was only a teen when I started using a DSLR) in Auto. It is understandable to be nervous about it. If you don't fully understand the settings, many of your pictures will not be great, or even view-able (like totally blow out or black). That could completely ruin a special even or photo (imagine not having any decent photos of a child's birthday or graduation :/). It could be bad. It is important to eventually get away from auto and into manual to get your best photos, but for now you can shoot in auto and be happy with you pictures.

Both photos are SOOC

Those of you who are JUST getting started with photography might ask what is wrong with the photo on top. Nothing, if all you want is a snapshot, but you won't need an expensive camera of lens to get that photo. Any point and shoot and any photographer (or camera holder) could do it. But if that was all you wanted you probably wouldn't be reading photography blogs. The photo on the bottom was also taken in auto. What's the difference? In the "before" photo my model's (mom's) back is facing the light (that's my dining room window) and my camera is pointed into it. This made my camera believe that it needed flash in order to properly expose the photo. You can see that the flash is not flattering and makes the photo look flat and colorless. This is not what you want. In the after photo I turned my model 180 degrees and stood between her and the light. This told my camera that her face was illuminated and the flash was not needed. I'll list some simple steps to make sure that your camera is taking a good photo on auto.

1. Make sure that the model is facing the light. If you want the light to be directional turn your model at an angle to the light, but make sure that it's getting there. 

2. Don't be afraid to try using aperture priority mode, particularly in low light. Keeping the aperture wide will help get enough light into the camera.   

3. You might have to manually adjust the ISO to keep your camera from wanting to use the flash. If you camera insists on flashing, just turn the ISO to a higher number, but don't go too high.

4. If the light is really low and you must use flash, try bouncing it or diffusing it by holding a sheet of paper in front of it. That will keep the photo from looking so harshly lit and flat. 

Those steps are pretty simple and for the absolute beginner. If you've been using a DSLR for a while, don't be afraid to step into manual or at least aperture and shutter priority. Just be sure to continue using auto at special events until you're comfortable with manual. Using auto can take great pictures in normal light, but they do not allow for the control that you can have with manual. Look at the next two pictures for proof. 

This photo was taken at sunset. The exposure is fine. The color is fine. It's not a great photo, but good enough. Since it was on auto and she was not facing the light the camera did decide to use a flash. This was what it considered to be a properly exposed photo. And it is.

But this is what I wanted. Well, close to what I wanted. I know that I needed to diffuse the flash and probably use a warming gel for my speedlight, but I took this photo for nothing more than a demonstration. This is why you need to use manual. I will talk about exposure and camera settings in the next part of this series, but for now I'll explain how I got this shot. 

It was pretty simple. I just turned up the shutter speed until the camera said that the photo was underexposed and turned on my speedlight (I don't have one of those nice ones that you can control, it's just a simple one). Then I took the shot and this is what I got. I also set the color temperature to over 6000 K to make the photo a little warmer. I will work on getting a better sunset photo and share it with you.  

Now I'll share the photos that I took over this fun-filled week. 

I spent many hours teaching my mom to use my camera. I set all of the camera settings, but needed to teach her about composition and focus in order to get a good photo of myself. It was a partly cloudy day and we had to take advantage of the shade when we had it.  

Finally got a good family picture. For some reason, I don't usually like large group photos. I guess they don't seem sharp because the faces are so small. This one looks okay, but I wish we had all dressed the part. We took this photo in the shade. Notice that my dad's hair is totally blown out. I could have fixed this in several ways because I did notice it while we were shooting, but I chose to leave it. I could have taken a shot where the photo was slightly underexposed and brightened everything but his hair in post processing. I could have taken two RAW files and layered them in post processing, but I like natural and this is what his hair actually looked like in that light. It's VERY white. 

I wanted to post this one to brag on my mom's newly found composition skills (or maybe my teaching skills ;p). For some reason, I like it. This one was also taken in the shade and using manual. It is also SOOC (except the watermark). I did shoot it using JPEG just because I don't like post processing. I just don't find it to be fun. Though it was taken in manual, aperture was the most important setting and I'll explain about that in the next part of this series. 

And finally, just a cute pic of our weekend trip. This is my hubby drooling over a car. We had a great time, and I hope you had a great time reading. I would be happy to answer any questions (about photography, and grad school, and living on a budget, not cars...I know nothing about cars). Leave a comment if you're interested in a tutorial on any specific picture or just to give feedback. Thanks for reading! Next up is Part 2: Camera Settings!

Taking Better Family Photos in 4 Steps

A VERY Beginner Tutorial on Improving Photography

Step 1: Learning to use light (even on Auto)

I've had a tough time working with light over the years. I'll show some photos of my progress through the years. I warn you, some of it is bad.

Though this one is adorable. It's not good. This was taken in 2010 when I thought I needed a flash indoors. It was taken on auto. I only though about composition (which is also important). This is a photo of my handsome cousin.

This was taken of a friend's baby at the beginning of 2012. It was my first attempt at creating my own light. I believed I used a clip-on light from Lowe's, with a light bulb that I also purchased from Lowe's. It was cheap, but my camera isn't super expensive and cannot handle super high ISO numbers. 

This photo was taken a few months later using the same setup. It's better, but I really needed better light. I also needed to know how to use it. Reflectors would have helped. Btw, this was after I edited out the hand holding up her chin (yeah, I needed more practice posing too).

This was my first time using mono lights. It wasn't too bad. I did practice beforehand, but not for keeps. This was 2012.

I like this one. I was really trying to get it right. This is the same handsome boy from the first photo. This was in 2013.

This was taken at a friend's wedding in 2013. To be fair, the only way to get the rainbow in the background was to face the light. It's not too bad, and the light was not super harsh.

A picture taken about a week ago. I really love this one and I actually felt like I knew what I was doing (with the camera, posing is still tough).

I showed you all of those pictures to show you that my photos did not always look like the ones that I post today. Even my pictures now are far from perfect, and I'm always looking to improve. But since I have improved, I wanted to share my progress and help you to struggle less than I did when you're learning how to take pictures, and hopefully you'll get better faster.

I'm going to say this again. I am not a professional. I feel like the most important part of a photograph, particularly a portrait, is light. Different lighting can completely change a photograph. It is probably best to start with natural light because it is continuous, making it easier to see what the photograph will look like before shooting. This will give you the opportunity to learn what light from different directions, and of different levels of being diffused (...?) look like.   

When working with outdoor light:
1. I feel like the first thing you need to know is what kind of light you've got. Is it harsh and directional or soft and diffused? Where is the source? This will help you determine what settings you need to use on your camera and what your photo will look like. Determine the sun's position in the sky. If it is strait overhead (noon-3pm in the summer), you will likely want to seek shade. If it is cloudy, you'll want to warm up the photo. Sunset and sunrise are the best times to take a photograph. The sun in low in the sky and casts a beautiful light on your subjects.

2. Determine what you want the photo to look like. If you want harsh, dramatic shadows, wait until a day with very few clouds in the sky. Look at the subject to see what the light looks like on his/her face. If one side is much brighter than the other, the model may need to turn to face, or turn away from, the light.

3. Choose your camera settings. I'll explain more about camera settings in a future post in this series, but one thing you need to know that is important to post now is to determine which metering mode is appropriate for the light that you're stuck with. I almost always use spot metering. I just like it better and I usually only care if the subject is properly exposed. If you're confused about what metering modes are and don't know how to change them, I'll give a short tutorial.

(Break for tutorial (skip this if you already have a basic understanding of metering): Here is what it looks like on the top of my trusted Nikon D90.

The dot inside the rectangle below the number 90 shows that I am using spot metering.

To change this on my camera, I simply have to press and hold down the button directly under the word off and twist the dial on the back of the camera. There are two other types of metering on my camera, center weighted (the icon will change to something like looks like parentheses around the spot), and matrix (the icon will change to a picture that looks like the button below the word off). I sometimes use matrix metering if I want an entire photograph to be properly exposed, but spot metering is my favorite. It allows me to make a single spot of the photograph a priority for being exposed properly. 

The icon below the metering icon is the thing that tells you where your camera is going to focus when it's set to auto-focus (I don't know all of the technical names for these things). Use the arrows to move it around until it covers the spot you want it to focus on. This will tell the spot metering where to meter. (Note: sometimes you have to ignore the meter altogether because you know better than it does).

End of tutorial)

4. Get creative. You don't need great light to take a great photograph. It might not look the way you wanted it to look, but if you're creative you can make it something totally different.

This photo shows that you barely need any light at all to take an interesting photograph.

More talk about just using auto in the next post. I'll continue talking about light. Let me know in the comments if you would like to see something different. Thanks for reading!