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.

The original photo

After cloning the wires away

Gave the candles a little extra light

The Nik Analog Efex adjustments

The final adjustments

Settings: ISO 100 - F2,2 - 1/160 sec. Camera: Nikon D7200 Lens: Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Editing software: Photoshop and the NIK collection
How To Make Floating Candles
