Levitation II
Jul, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in an old, abandoned, poorhouse in Angelica NY. I love photographing historic / abandoned buildings as well as working with models and this was a great chance to do something with both and create something cool.Time
This was actually mid day, probably around 11 or 12 in the afternoon. Since we were indoors I figured it did not matter what time I took it. It just happened that the sun was in the perfect position to give the room as eeire feel and create some dramatic lighting.Lighting
THe lighting was a little tough since it was a harsh back light. I had to shoot the background in HDR, then shoot my model normal and use post processing to make the two work together. I also had an off camera flash and reflector to help balance it more.Equipment
This was shot with my old camera, a Canon xsi with a Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens.Inspiration
I just wanted to create something different and eeire and at the time I had been looking into levitation photos. When I saw the room, which was as shot and I did not move or position any furniture, the idea just came to me to do the levitation idea. I felt it could create a sort of haunted look it.Editing
Yes. I love post processing as much as I love the art of photographing things. I used Lightroom to make my basic adjustments then merged the HDR images in Photoshop. Once that was done I had to paint out the ladder she was on to get the levitation effect. From there it was a lot of masking and painting to grunge it up and add the fog. To finish it off I used Perfect Effects to layer some effects to the image and mask out the areas I did not want affected. It was a pretty intense, time consuming process but I learned a lot and was really happy with how it came out.In my camera bag
My camera, of course, which I have since upgraded to a Canon 7D mkii. A few lenses - Tamron 17-50 2.8, Tamron 70-300, Canon 50mm 1.8. I also keep an assortment of filters handy, circular polarizer, ND, variable ND. My tripod is essential as well and depending on the situation I would normally bring my flash because it always seems like when I don;t think I need it and leave it behind, I wind up needing it.Feedback
My best advice is to take lots of photos. You can never have too many to work with. I had to set up the camera, camera settings,focus, and tripod with my model on a ladder or a piece of furniture and get her shot in various poses. Then the model leaves the spot and using the same focus and settings I used with with the model, photograph the room. I knew I wanted more grunge so I shot in HDR but you can do single exposures as well. Then it is all Photoshop and experimenting with different things to get the look you want.
