....alternative title suggested by my other daughter is "Wingardium Leviosa".
When I joined Flickr over 2 years ago one of the first photos I faved was this levitation shot by Miss Aniela http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz/2915848831/in/faves-marklandon/
I'd told my girls about how I could make them "float in mid air" and so on rainy saturday evening we gave it a try and this is the result. Here's a basic overview of what you'll need to do
Set the camera to manual and dial in an appropriate shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get a well lit background. Using a tripod is critical to avoid movement between shots. A remote release is also useful or you could get by with the self timer. If using flash, also set that to maual too, so that the results are consistent. Take a shot of the background with no subject. This is the image that you will have at the bottom of the layer stack in photoshop, so that when you erase things later the background will show through.
Next introduce your subject and have them lie down on a chair or similar (in this case I was actually holding her up by lying underneath. Take a second shot with the subject and support in frame. You'll later remove the support in photoshop to create the illusion of levitation.
Load your images into photoshop and using a layer mask (allows for non destructive erasing) paint over the support area to allow the background to show through. You may have to do a bit of cloning to ensure that fabrics and hair appear normal vs creased/obscured and heh presto you have a levitiation shot.
I'll be doing more of these with the girls as they thought it was great fun.
A little part of the web for me to talk about Photography, what I'm up to, share experiments, recent shots, hints and tips. To share my (limited) experience with others and to gain further skills myself.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Fractalius Fireworks : How to Create the Effect..
To create a similar dreamy/ethereal firework photoy ou'll need a good base image to start with. Some advice for shooting fireworks can be found here. http://marklandon.blogspot.com/2010/11/watching-in-awe.html
This image was from the Legoland Windsor, fireworks display last weekend, which was truly spectacular.
You'll also need the Fractalius plug in for Photoshop to create the dreamy effect. Read more here. http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm
As you can see from some of the fractalius images at the above link I toned the effect down a bit by having it as a duplicate layer with reduced opacity.
Create a duplicate layer of your image and run the fractalius plug in on it and play with the sliders/experiment until you find an effect you like. There is a back button that reloads previous settings so you can find your way back if you continue to explore settings. Once you have an effect you like save the changes and let your computer churn away and then change the blend mode opacity of the fractalius layer until you have the look you want. Save and post to your favourite photosharing site.
Have fun.
This image was from the Legoland Windsor, fireworks display last weekend, which was truly spectacular.
You'll also need the Fractalius plug in for Photoshop to create the dreamy effect. Read more here. http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm
As you can see from some of the fractalius images at the above link I toned the effect down a bit by having it as a duplicate layer with reduced opacity.
Create a duplicate layer of your image and run the fractalius plug in on it and play with the sliders/experiment until you find an effect you like. There is a back button that reloads previous settings so you can find your way back if you continue to explore settings. Once you have an effect you like save the changes and let your computer churn away and then change the blend mode opacity of the fractalius layer until you have the look you want. Save and post to your favourite photosharing site.
Have fun.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Watching In Awe
This was one of many shots I got from yesterday evening at the Legoland Fireworkds display.
The others can be seen here. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?id=542234067&aid=260216
To get decent shots of fireworks you need to use a tripod and use "bulb" mode, and ideally a remote release. I only had a small tripod which is really for a compact camera vs a big bulky 40D but it worked OK.
Mount your camera on the tripod. Turn image stabilisation and auto focus off. Using IS on a tripod is not necessary and can even create negative results as the camera tries to remove shake that isn't there. You need to use manual focus as the light levels are so low auto won;t work and your lens will "hunt" trying to lock focus. Manually focus on a distant object and check againt hat your lens is set to manual focus.
Set the camera to manual (or bulb if you have that setting) and dial up the shutter speed to 30sec ... the next click after this should be BULB. This means that the shutter will remain open for as long as you keep the shutter release pressed down... this could be 1 second or 1 minute.
Set the aperture to a noimal value of f/8 and ISO to 100. If you press the shutter release now you'll get pretty much a black frame as light levels are so low but a firework will have anough light to give a good exposure.
Set the widest angle you can (ulktrawide zooms would give a great creative effect but the max I have in my lens is 17mm) and create a composition for where you think the fireworks will go off. Connect your shutter/cable release if you have one.
When the fireworks start to go off use the cable release to start and end the exposure. the longer you leave the shutter open the more light trails you'll get. Experiment with differnt times until you get an effect you are pleased with.
The others can be seen here. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?id=542234067&aid=260216
To get decent shots of fireworks you need to use a tripod and use "bulb" mode, and ideally a remote release. I only had a small tripod which is really for a compact camera vs a big bulky 40D but it worked OK.
Mount your camera on the tripod. Turn image stabilisation and auto focus off. Using IS on a tripod is not necessary and can even create negative results as the camera tries to remove shake that isn't there. You need to use manual focus as the light levels are so low auto won;t work and your lens will "hunt" trying to lock focus. Manually focus on a distant object and check againt hat your lens is set to manual focus.
Set the camera to manual (or bulb if you have that setting) and dial up the shutter speed to 30sec ... the next click after this should be BULB. This means that the shutter will remain open for as long as you keep the shutter release pressed down... this could be 1 second or 1 minute.
Set the aperture to a noimal value of f/8 and ISO to 100. If you press the shutter release now you'll get pretty much a black frame as light levels are so low but a firework will have anough light to give a good exposure.
Set the widest angle you can (ulktrawide zooms would give a great creative effect but the max I have in my lens is 17mm) and create a composition for where you think the fireworks will go off. Connect your shutter/cable release if you have one.
When the fireworks start to go off use the cable release to start and end the exposure. the longer you leave the shutter open the more light trails you'll get. Experiment with differnt times until you get an effect you are pleased with.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Outdoor Autumn Portrait : Tutorial
Find a location that has some nice coloured foliage in the background.I used some stunning red acers in Windsor great park. The place where your subject is positioned should ideally be shaded from direct sun to give a more flattering/softer light. Use the aperture priority setting on your camera and set the Aperture as large as possible. The aperture is lens dependant. Remember a large f nmber = small aperture, so you want a small f number to have as large an aperture as possible. A large aperture lets in more light giving a faster shutter speed and creates a more limted depth of field. It's the limted depth of field which will give the bokeh/blurry background... and if you have chosen well you'll get some lovely colours blurring into each other.
Zoom in (the higher the level of zoom the more the background will blur) and compose your shot. Remember to position your main subject off centre rather than in the middle. Think of the rule of thirds and position key elements on or near intersecting points of the 1/3 lines.
Set your ISO as low as possible to maximise image quality but keep your eye on the shutter speed. In this case the shutter speed at ISO 100 was too low and would have resulted in camera shake ( I didn't have a tripod with me) so I ramped up the ISO to 400 to give a shutter speed of 1/80 allowing me to comfotably hand hold the shot.
Fire off a few shots and remember to keep the camera ready as you quite often get t he best shot when your subject thinks you've finished and relaxes. The most natural expressions, especially in kids can't be forced or requested, they just happen and you need to be ready.
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