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Girl with umbrella levitation shot. Taken at Greenock's Custom House Quay on the Clyde Estuary, Scotland.
Girl with umbrella levitation shot. Taken at Greenock's Custom House Quay on the Clyde Estuary, Scotland.
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Mar, 2015Views
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Fall Award 2020
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Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
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Behind The Lens
Location
This shot was taken at 'Custom House Quay' in my home town of Greenock. Greenock sits on the famous River Clyde Estuary on Scotland's west coast.Time
The shot was taken late afternoon in March. The sun was quite low as can be seen by the long shadows.Lighting
No flash was used in the shot just sunlight.Equipment
For this shot I used my Nikon D90 and the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 lens. The camera was on my Giottos tripod and the lens was set at 24mm f8. I didn't use any flash. I used my IR remote shutter release to avoid camera shake. The lighting was simply daylight. I also used a set of step ladders for my model (young Brooke) to stand/sit on.Inspiration
I wanted to do a Mary Poppins style levitation shot. I thought the quayside would be a good location with it's old style lampposts. Friend of the family, young Brooke, was keen to model for me and so we arranged to do the shot.Editing
Two shots were used to make the final image. One taken without any steps or model in the shot and another with young Brooke on the step ladder. I layered the shots in photoshop and masked out the steps and the shadow of the steps to give the impression of levitation. I did some colour adjustments and some cropping and finished off with a few tweeks in lightroom.In my camera bag
When this shot was taken I would have my Nikon D90, the 18-105 kit lens, the 24-70 f2.8 lens and my Tokina 11-16 wide angle lens. I would also carry my SB-700 flash. I always carry a spare camera battery and spare batteries for the flash.Feedback
For this type of levitation shot a tripod is required as you are layering at least two images which have to line up. Some sort of remote shutter release or delayed timer release is required to eliminate camera shake. Have an idea of what you want to achieve and plan your day in advance. I use photoshop and lightroom but you may use other software however some post processing skills are required to mask out unwanted areas as well as colour toning to achieve what you have in mind. By all means try different ideas/poses etc while on the shoot and keep it fun.
