Levitation Photoshop Tutorial Star Wars Edition

Have you ever wanted to create a photo of someone suspended in air? Well, this simple to replicate tutorial is probably what you’ve been waiting for. Just to spice things up a bit here’s a Star Wars perspective on levitation photography:

Here’s what you’ll need.

  • A Jedi knight. An enthusiastic Jedi knight can’t be that difficult to find, can it?
  • Stools. Spoiler alert: In levitation photography, your models don’t actually levitate. That would be against the laws of physics. But you make it appear as if they’re floating by using stools and Photoshop magic.
  • Tripod. Whether your model is firmly planted on the ground or levitating in thin air, you need this to ensure that there are no unwanted changes between the frames you’ll be taking.

How to Create a Levitation Photo

You’ll need to shoot three images.

1. Shoot one image with just the background.

jedi knight levitation

2. Shoot another frame with the model sitting on a stool.

jedi knight levitation tutorial

3. Finally, take one shot with the prop.

jedi knight levitation

Post-Processing

Import the three images to Photoshop in a stack.

One by one, remove the chair and any element supporting the prop so that the final image appears with just the Jedi and his/her light saber.

how to make a levitation photo

The chair being airbrushed out of the picture

Add the missing shadow, and voila! Your levitating Jedi image is ready:

how to make a levitating Jedi image in photoshop

We’d love to see your levitation photos! Share them in the comments.

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