Levitating objects is something we’ve all dreamed of doing (at least I have), the next best thing to this is levitation photography. It’s simple to do and there’s a lot of variations you can do, so although it’s by no means a unique idea (what is?) as with all concepts, it’s all about the execution.
Fishing Wire works perfectly as it’s strong enough to hold a reasonable amount of weight and also it’s translucency and thinness make it a breeze to photoshop out using the spot healing brush.
The trick with the brush is to make small movements or dabs with the spot healing brush, so as not to confuse the tool and end up mixing the back round up in the image. The tea in the teacup and wine in the wine glass add elements of realism and took quite a while to perfect balance-wise and I needed multiple strands of wire for the wine glass – but the extra time was worth it.
The ring shoot retrospectively hasn’t been edited well in terms of skin tones (it’s way too orange) but I’m still happy with how the shot itself turned out. it was a spontaneous floating ring shoot that the bride was happy to do. I had the thought in the back of my mind for a while and mentioned it as a possible idea to see if they would be interested. The bride was keen on the concept, so we got a groomsman to stand on a nearby chair with the ring attached on fishing wire to achieve the shot.
The headphones shot was a bit more tricky and the wire was attached to a metal rod protruding from the roof of the parking lot. Once we got up there I advised that there wasn’t anywhere safe to connect it to but before I knew it my subject was up on the rail, ready to attach it to a rod he had spotted (his parkour backround meant he wasn’t phased by this). This worked out well for the shot and it’s good to stay creative in terms of how to get your levitation shots, but I would definitely advise making sure your subject or yourself are not put in any precarious situations to get a shot.
I’m still learning through practice and on my next set of images, I’m going to put more of an emphasis on lighting and post-processing, as the subject as these shots were done with either natural light or the minimal lighting I had available to me at the time. Since these shots, I’ve delved into Pro Edu’s skin retouching course and purchased their colour profiles for Lightroom, which I’m going to try and incorporate at some point. I want to retain a natural look but the edit is important to convey the tone and mood of the images.
I got a few curious passers-by when shooting the floating pinecone and while it’s always nice to speak to people about my shoots when outside, be very cautious of your equipment as it can easily be taken when your back is turned. Luckily I was fine and was shooting in a relatively serene public garden, but I made sure to keep an eye on my bag and camera just in case.
If anyone’s interested in shooting something creative and doesn’t have a model to shoot, this is a great way of honing self-portrait shooting skills, even if you hate being in front of the camera like I do.
All photos were taken with a 5D Mark iii and a 35mm Sigma Art 1.4 lens. Shooting took quite a while as I figured things out, especially when using tea/wine and balancing things but the more I shoot, the faster set up and shooting will be.
BIO
Aaron is a photographer and filmmaker residing in the South West, UK but is available for work worldwide. He started out covering weddings but now covers a range of services. His current work can be found at:
www.agvisuals.tv
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aarongoldenphotography/
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