Photoshop tips and tricks_Floating Objects_Searle

How to make objects float, or levitation photography. 

How to:

You will need:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Something to stand, sit, lay on
• Photoshop/GIMP

Start with a tripod.  Frame your scene and get your exposure set.  I suggest usingmanual so that you’re exposure settings don’t shift from one pic to the next.  Also, establish focus for where you will be and disable your auto focus (otherwise you run the risk of the area in focus being different between the two images).

First, you want to take a picture of the scene without you or your prop in it.  This will be your background image.  When you get it composed to where you like it, fire a shot off.  Don’t touch the camera other than to set the self timer if you do not have it set up to be remotely triggered.

Next, use a ladder, box, bucket or anything stable enough to hold your weight and set it up in the scene making sure you leave enough room between you and the surface you will be floating above in the image to give the illusion of just hanging there.

Now you have both your background image and an exact duplicate image with you and the thing that you are going to erase leaving you levitating.

1. Open both images in Photoshop and with both images open on the desktop, drag the “you” image using the move (V) tool on top of the background image while holding SHIFT which will automatically align the images.
2. Set the opacity of the “you” layer to about 50% to check that you are lined up.  If it is a little off, use the move (V) tool to manually align the two layers as closely as you can.
3. On the “you” layer, add a layer mask (the hole in a square at the bottom of the layers palate) and using a black brush (B) paint out your prop.  For me, as I was outside, I painted everything but me out because the sun came out for the second shot.  You are essentially just painting around yourself which will effectively eliminate any evidence that you’re not just really good at holding a gravity defying pose.