01 Levitating camera
Combine frames to make it look as if your camera is floating in the air.
There are several different approaches that you can take to capturing an edgy levitating camera shot, but we’ve gone with the simplest here, as there are no strings or complicated edits involved. With your main camera fixed in the same position on a tripod, you’ll need to take two separate frames.
In the first frame, drop a camera in front of your main camera and lens, and freeze it in mid-air with a fast shutter speed, such as 1/2500sec. Of course, you’ll be catching the camera again too! It can be tricky to fire the shutter and catch the dropping camera at the same time, so it’s better to ask another person to help you with one of these roles.
The second shot should be of someone (you or a helper) holding an imaginary camera between their hands. The key is to make sure your tripod doesn’t move between the two shots, so that you can merge them together seamlessly using Layer Masks in Photoshop. If you’re giving this a go at home rather than in an urban environment, plump up a few cushions underneath the camera’s drop zone, just to be on the safe side.