How To: Levitation Photography

Hey guys! I have been very busy with my photography. Today, I will be teaching you guys how to levitate in photographs.

Things you will need:

• A photo editing software
• A camera
• A tripod
• You
• A stool or a hard block or something to lift you up that you can sit on
• Optional: an object that will fly around

First, Set up your camera on manual mode. This is important. Also make sure that your manual mode suits your environment, so that the lighting won't look too dark or too light. Also the shutter speed. It is better to make the shutter speed to a very fast shutter speed because you wouldn't want any movements.

Second, set your camera on a steady tripod. I prefer it close to the ground facing upwards so you will really look levitating, but not too under you or else you will find it hard to erase the stool or chair that will be lifting you.

Third, once you have found a place to shoot, the camera is set up already, you are ready to take photos. Take a photo of yourself sitting on the block. If you are planning to float over a chair, place the block on the chair and sit on the block. Then take a picture.

Next take a picture of the whole scene without the block and you. If you are planning on floating over a chair, leave the chair in the scene.

This is optional, but it will make your photo more realistic. Take a picture of a flying object by holding it in the air. By the way, if you are going to hold it in the air, make sure you hold it a the back, so your hands won't be seen. TIP: If you are planning on having a floating book, just toss it in the air when the camera shoots. That way the pages flip. This give the book an illusion that it is flying, but if you are using a clock, just hold it in place because it might break.

Okay you are all set.

Fourth, open up your editing software. Make sure you are able to open a photo and import a photo into the opened photo. By the way, I am using Corel Photo-Paint 9. I am not sure if it is free, but GIMP can work too. GIMP is free. Although I am not sure if it will work the same way.

Your pictures should look similar. The lighting should look the same. If they don;t look the same, don't panic. Just adjust the brightness using a photo editor. You can also use Picasa. I use Picasa for that.

Open up the picture with only the scene. Then import the picture with you sitting on the block. Select the lasso tool or any selective tool. Then just select the block and press the delete button on the keyboard. This will delete the block that lifts you up. If it looks fake because the lighting is different, like I said, just change it using a photo editor. Then repeat the process again. If the background and the picture with you in it, does not align perfectly, it is okay as long as it is not too big. We will fix that later. Also your butt. If it looks flat, we can also fix that later. Then save the image as levi semi.jpg

Open up levi semi.jpg again.  Import the picture of the flying object A.K.A. the picture with you holding an object. Select the object. Then right click it and click on cut. Click on the whole image of you holding something. Then press delete. After that, just right click, then paste the object as a new object. TIP: If the object is not quite at the right position as you wanted it to be, just move it around. As long as it doesn't look fake anywhere in the picture is okay. Just make sure it is in the air and is somewhere near where it really was shot in the picture, so it won't look fake. Then save it as levi final.jpg

If your picture still looks fake, because your background does not align, don't worry, but we should fix your butt first. You can do this on your computer or in your phone, but both ways you will be cloning it. I use my phone because I will be posting it on Instagram. Anyway, just clone your butt by select some parts of your butt, then just clone it to fill up the empty space.

For the phone method, I use Photo Editor. By the way, you can download it on the PlayStore. It is not available in the Appstore though. You can clone it just like on the computer.

This step is a step that I am not sure how to do in the computer though, so just transfer it unto your phone and read on. Download Aviary. Again, this is available in the PlayStore. I am not sure if it is available or not available in the Appstore. Open up the app. Then upload your picture. Then select the blemish tool. Just draw on the lines that don't meet AKA the line that is created when the background is not aligned perfectly. It will blur the line, so it is not so obvious.

THIS IS OPTIONAL: If your butt still looks fake because it has no shadow, just draw on a shadow with any good rendering app.

Add filters, designs, etcetera, etcetera. Then add a watermark if you want to. Then you are done. You can upload it to Instagram if you like. TIP: If your picture is rectangle and you want to keep the rectangular form on Instagram, just use the app called PhotoSquarer. It is very helpful.

BY THE WAY, CHECK OUT MY INSTAGRAM PAGE WHILE YOU ARE AT IT.
MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT (dustdevilme)
Give it a like, a comment, and also please follow me. Thanks.

Here are my finished products:

my favorite

my first one

my second one

Weird thing about Photography

I have been very fund of taking pictures of regular objects and making it look like it is something special. You can say I give rusty things a chance to shine. I want to prove that even a trash been can be a very good subject, none the less trash itself, although I don't always taking pictures of weird objects, of course.

One more thing I'd like to prove is that even a a small digital camera or a phone can make a beautiful photogragh. I have always been told that DSLR's or SLR's are the best in photography, and yes, that is true, but that doesn't mean the phone is not a useful and good tool in photography too. People say that DSLR's are better than everything else. That's fine with me, but the way they say small cameras and phone aren't good enough? That is just cruel. Many people buy those huge cameras because it isless limited than those small cameras, but there are also a lot of people that buy them because they're, well, expensive. Weird right? I ask them why SLR's are very good. The only thing they could say was... it made high quality pictures, which is true I guess, but a person who really knows how to use a DSLR would have said "because It is has more options and is less limited." I bet you that most people even use the automatic mode rather than the manual mode, and that is because they do not know how to use it. I asked some of my friends if they knew how to use a DSLR. One of them said, "Yes. Zoom in. Zoom out. Duh?" Hahaha funny. They weren't joking. You may be asking right now, "Yes, the DSLR camera can be a little to much, but how can you prove that a phone can be a good camera too?" Well I guess it is the composition that matters anyway in photography.

-Bridge Lee