The Night My Sister Had Magical Powers

bout two weeks ago at my parents' house we were all watching a show on the tele one night when I noticed my sister wasn't with us anymore. I went downstairs to look for her and this is what I found...

I knew she was watching too much Charmed.

So it turned out my sister had magical powers. Witch! No, not really. I read online about levitation photography and wanted to give it a try. I decided what I wanted the photo to look like, set everything up and only needed someone to be in the photo. Here sista, sista! My beautiful sis was more that willing to help. With everything set I lit the candles, told her to sit in the middle, hold the candle, levitate herself and then the candle and then I will take the photo. She did exactly as I had instructed and I snapped. Voila!

If only. Here is how it was and can be done:

1. Go on a scavenger hunt in my parents' house and get as many pretty candles as possible. ( Don't use ugly candles. They will spoil the aesthetic value of the set. Have some style! )

2. Drape an old bedspread over a cupboard. ( Don't use a new one. It will spoil the aesthetic value of the set. Witches were poor people! )

3. Put a nice, oldish throw on the floor. ( Refer to no. 2 for pointers on what not to do. )

4. Place the candles, except one, leaving a space in the middle of the throw.

5. Place a chair in the open spot.

6. Put the camera on a tripod and place it in position.

7. Instruct sister to sit.

8. Light the candles. ( Don't do no. 8 before no. 7. Sister might knock over a candle while trying to sit. Everything will burn! )

9. Put a thick book on sister's lap. ( Make sure it can't bend. If it can, someone or something is gonna burn! )

10. Put a drinking glass upside down on the book.

11. Put the extra candle on the bottom of the upside down glass.

12. Light the candle.

13. Tell sister to pretend she is making the candle levitate with her hands. ( Not her feet. She will fall and burn! )

14. Snap the first photo.

15. Tell sister to remain in the fake levitation position.

16. Blow out the candle on the glass.

17. Remove the candle, glass and the book from sister's lap.

18. Snap the second photo.

19. Help sister of the chair without burning anything.

20. Take the chair away.

21. Snap the third photo.

22. Blow out the candles.

23. Clean up and put everything where you found it. ( If you don't, your mom will most likely get angry with you. )

Photoshop time! Open all three photos in Photoshop. Now, there are a few ways of doing this, but the fastest way is to start with photo 1. This is the one with the chair, book and glass that have to disappear. Use the clone stamp tool and photo 3 to erase the chair in photo 1. Then use clone stamp and photo 2 to erase the book and glass in photo one. I left the bottom of the glass on the bottom of the candle to make it look like a little foot piece for the candle. Now you can just tweak here and there and do some retouching if necessary.

Looking at the photo now it seems like I am the one who watched too much Charmed. I've gotten a few other ideas for levitation photos in the meantime. Once they are finished, I'll post them.