Behind the scenes of a levitation still life image

Before Christmas, I had quite a bit of time on my hands, so I decided to have a play with some still life photography. I decided to use some of the Christmas decorations in the shoot but wanted to make them a little more dynamic. This is when I decided to have a play with some levitation still life photography.

Levitation still life photography

I do enjoy playing with still life photography. It is so convenient when the weather is not great but I still want to take some photographs. I am always looking for new ways to make the images more dynamic and interesting. This is when I thought making some of the items float could be fun.

Of course, this is something that can be created as a composite image in Photoshop. But I wanted to have a go at setting up the scene and creating most of the image in-camera.

So with the use of some fishing wire, boom poles and clamps I got to work. My wooden snowflakes were hung with the fishing wire from the pole and secured with tape at the bottom. These make for a seasonal backdrop.

For a more ambitious shot, I dangled some small boots from the pole. These were my children’s first shoes, which I kept because I) they were my children’s first shoes II) they are so cute and III) they make one of our Christmas toys look more like Santa when we put them on it!

So to take the weight of the boots I needed to use clips. I was planning for the shot to feature the bottom of the shoes to make it look as though Santa was flying off. So I could easily clip the tops of the boots to the boom pole. I also used some garden wire to secure them in place.

The final images

It can take a long time to get images like this right. you can think it looks ok, but then when you get the images onto your computer you want to make changes. This is half the fun. Playing around with props until it looks right.

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Sara Sadler

Photographer

I am a fine art photographer based in the South of England. I enjoy sharing my photographic adventures, hints and tips.

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