A Levitation Photo

[Eirik]

Watched this awesome vid on digitalrev and I just had to try it out. It is Compaq's bedroom you see in the background.


Levitation by EirikBrak, on Flickr

Does it look like I'm flying?

 

[christian.rudman]

Hahaha, I saw that article too, really been wanting to try it out. I think the girl that the article was about is a much more reliable source of how to take these shots than that dude on the DigitalREV video. Check out her site, she has a "how I take the lev shots" post in there somewhere.

This is pretty good, but like the DigitalREV guy, there is not enough control on the subjects part to make it appear like levitation rather than just jumping up in the air. That's what was so great about hers, they don't look like a normal jump at all. Good try though.

 

[Robin Usagani]

what are you holding?

 

[christian.rudman]

looks like a candy baby bottle.

 

[Eirik]

what are you holding?

You know those things babies drink from. That's what I'm using... You know, a sucking bottle for babies Just took the first thing I found.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I have not seen the tutorial, but why do you have to hold something?

 

[Compaq]

It's all about putting the jump into context. It's ideal to make it look like we're doing something normal, without ever thinking about that we're jumping. Like, for instance, getting the mail, vacuuming the living room, cleaning the windows, playing yatzee... Your imagination is your limit, basically. At least that's what I'm getting from this type of photography.7

Anyone can take a jumping photo, but levitation is all about making the viewer believe, yes? In my head that's best expressed if we're doing something trivial whilst jumping.

 

[Eirik]

You don't have to hold something. Just thought it would be cool. Like I'm cathing it while I'm flying.

 

[christian.rudman]

I have not seen the tutorial, but why do you have to hold something?

Yowayowacamera.com

This is the girl that inspired the tutorial. Learning from studying her shots and descriptions on the "about" page, the process is much better than the DigiREV twit that did the tutorial. check it out, I fell in love by the first two frames.

 

[Eirik]

Yeah. A few of those pictures are amazing.

 

[o hey tyler]

You appear very tense in the photo. Your intent might have been to look like you're floating but you definitely look like you're jumping.

 

[Eirik]

I agree. But I got really tired from jumping... Probably did it like 40 times.

 

[g-fi]

The Yowayowa shots are AMAZING, thanks for sharing that link! I agree that this looks just like jumping, I wasn't sure what effect you were trying to go for when you said levitation. I think the most effective shots are the ones in which there's more scene to the picture, and it's not as big of a movement. Totally cool!

 

[christian.rudman]

As the girl was saying on her blog, the image comes from composing and setting the scene, then learning when to time your jump. She states that she takes a ton of re-do shots to get the right effect. The difference is her fluidity of movement (like a ballet dancer compared to your football player pose - sorry for the harsh comparison) and her choice of scenes. Obviously you were just looking to experiment with the jump effect, but you watched too much digiREV and not enough attention to yowayowa. I'll be joining you soon on this, I've been having ideas swimming around in my head for days on how I want to shoot these. Bet a few of mine are going to draw much more criticism than this one of yours however.

 

[889Media]

During the clip by DigitalRev, the one picture where he looks like he is walking in the air holding his umbrella and reading the newspaper is actually not bad. The other ones, e.g. the one with the phone booth are not that good. That is because of the same look you got in this picture; to tense and obvious. Nice try though.

Everyone with a normal health can jump, and everyone who owns a camera and can jump take a picture of one self jumping. The trick is to make it look like you just all of a sudden just beat all laws regarding gravity. But...as many others, I got really inspired by both her site and the video. And it looks like a lot of fun when you get that one photo that really looks good The only thing is all the attention this is getting, so soon "floating" will be the next planking. :O