Behind the scene: flying candles

Today I did a photoshoot with Mieps, Archie and flying candles. Yes, you read that right FLYING candles! The candles are actually very easy to make, there is a downloadable .pdf file on how to make them yourself at the end of this blogpost. Continue to read more about this magical photoshoot.

Introduction

In this blogpost I will explain which items I have used, the postprocessing and how I made the flying candles.

How I made the setup:

The set up cost me about one hour to complete. I started with attaching the rope to the brooms and a tripod, so I would get lines where I could attach the candles to.

When I was happy with the setup I put my camera on a tripod and I made my composition.

I have used:

- Tiny books I bought at a secondhand store
- A felt hat I made myself
- Candles I made myself
- Piggy sized broom I made myself
- Black roll curtain from IKEA
- Reflective screen
- Rope
- A bunch of human brooms to attache the rope to

Post processing

I used the program Photoshop to edit the photos from this photoshoot.

I started with selecting the images I liked the best, I prefer doing this with Adobe Bridge. You can easily give stars to photos you like, so you can find them back later.

When I start editing I begin with adjusting the RAW file in the RAW converter. With the photos from this photoshoot I adjusted brightness, highlights, shadows and I added some brightness to Archie's eyes.

When I finish with the RAW converter I open the photos in Photoshop to start editing.

Step 1: I started with cloning away all the wires and other distracting objects.

Step 2: After that I gave the candles a orange glow and I put a golden bokeh stockphoto in the lights, to give it that little extra magical feeling.

Step 3: When I was happy with the candles and background, I adjusted the colours with Nik Analog Efex pro to make the image more moody. You can download this plugin for Photoshop for free.

Step 4: Finally I adjusted the brightness/contrast, applied colour correction and changed the colours with 'curves'. Last step is to add my watermark and resize the photo for Instagram.