Conspicuous Levitating Spies

154 comments

I'll let Charlie Tyack explain this illusion by himself! This is what he wrote: "Hi there, I thought I might submit these photos in case you would like to stick them on your blog. It's me and my pal Paul pretending to levitate whilst dressed as conspicuous spies at Duxford Air Museum in the UK. If you do put it on, please link to my website: www.charlietyack.com Thanks!"

Can you solve how this illusions were done? Second picture is inside this post, just click on the title to jump inside this article.





154 Comments

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  1. Anonymous alex 

    Are they jumping

  2. Anonymous Haywood Jablome 

    They are jumping!

  3. Anonymous Aaron 

    hes not flying its just that there is a hill and he went on his tippytoes so the illusion makes it look like there is no hill and then your mind balances it out to make it look like hes "flying"

  4. Anonymous Rootman 

    They look stiff and silted. I think they just jumped flat footed and the photog captured them at the top of the jump with fast film.

  5. Anonymous kwyzx 

    They just jump!

  6. Anonymous craig 

    they seem to be on a zip wire!

  7. Anonymous sanghoku 

    jumping on some sort of trampoline or something it seems :)

  8. Anonymous Mike 

    No clue, would love an explination. :)

  9. Anonymous pablo 

    I think they simply jump. it's a very nice effect

  10. Anonymous Joe The Happy Little Elf 

    These russians are just jumping; I DIDN'T KNOW JUMPING WAS AN ILLUSION.

  11. Anonymous Kelly 

    To be honest, I didn't even get why you would think they were levetating at all.. Until I tried really hard... Which I think is opposite of what is supposed to happen...

  12. Anonymous Giulia 

    He jumps and he retirethe feet :)

  13. Anonymous Joker_MKD 

    The picture was taken in the mid-air while you jumped. Nothing special. :(

  14. Anonymous Carpathia 

    I have two theories on their levitation:

    1. They simply jumped and used a fast shutter on the camera to capture them in mid-air.
    2. There appears to be a contraption on the wooden post that could be holding them up using a thin wire.

    Just my 2 cents worth.

  15. Anonymous Carl C. 

    It looks like they're jumping... especially the second picture.

  16. Anonymous emgee 

    They're just jumping infront of a camera with high shutter speed.
    Second one is most obvious.

  17. Anonymous frank 

    Well, Charlie & Paul,
    If you photograph somebody jumping in the air, that is not an optical illusion, that's a photograph of sombody jumping in the air.
    And that is the reason you named your photos 'MeJump.jpg' and 'PaulJump.jpg'.
    Next!

  18. Anonymous shepsteer 

    How about they jump up and the picture is taken while they are in midair?

  19. Anonymous Gree 

    The 2 dudes are jumping and a high shutter speed was used on the camera. You can tell by the tension in their hands and the shape of their clothes.

  20. Anonymous kdh 

    It seems the pictures where taken whilst jumping up, especially the second picture reveals this fact.

  21. Anonymous Shawn 

    Well...judging by the image filenames, I think I could take a wild guess.

  22. Anonymous bored out of mymine 

    this thing is crappy its so dumb retards

  23. Anonymous Jimbobby Bob Bob 

    They're jumping. simple. Done this one myself. I'm brilliant.

  24. Anonymous max 

    I think that they're just jumping... On the second picture it really looks like it because his left hand is in a really weird position.

  25. Anonymous n|mph3t 

    Either the photos were edited, or these were taken while the subject is jumping. Got it from the photos' filenames: MeJump.jpg and PaulJump.jpg ;)

  26. Anonymous Ginko 

    they jumped into the air

  27. Anonymous . 

    .........photoshop?

  28. Anonymous gary 

    It looks like he jumped and the camera had a fast shutter speed.

  29. Anonymous kelli 

    thats weird

  30. Anonymous Keera Fox 

    They're jumping in front of a high-speed camera.

  31. Anonymous barbara 

    I dont know...but the way You keep Your body, so tense... You must have jumped and just shot the picture at the right time ..?

  32. Anonymous bored 

    this doesnt even look like they r levitating...-.-'

  33. Anonymous ian 

    blue screen background offset, right ;) ?

  34. Anonymous ric 

    Nice. how was it achieved?

  35. Anonymous kurt 

    I'd say they jumped up and as they were at the "top" of the jump, the camera took their pictures.

  36. Anonymous Marianna 

    They just jumped in the air!

  37. Anonymous Lizi 

    Waouh ! Very impressionnant !

  38. Anonymous (:-# 

    Photoshop (they have moved the shadows), I guess...

  39. Anonymous Cinarly 

    JUMP!

  40. Anonymous mooshy 

    i guess he took the shadows out in photoshop.. that's why it doesn't look real?

  41. Anonymous sko56 

    um yeah this ones easy, lock your knees, and jump with your feet

  42. Anonymous Skeptical Illusionist 

    I would venture to say that a jump is involved in both pics. The first gent has his hands in his pockets yet stretching the trench coat, there some force that is being applied on the coat from straining, I presume. The 2nd pic, the left pant leg is not following any gravity physics that I can see in the picture, the pant leg has an upward motion (notice the creese at the bottom of pant leg). Again, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong. :)

  43. Anonymous KandiCorn 

    i think i know how they did it but im not really sure..
    does anybody else know?

  44. Anonymous tinkerbell_teen_aka_Cassie 

    its obvious that they are standing just right and they twist there feet in such away that it appears that they are floating. The first one's secret is the little puddle that looks like a shadow.

  45. Anonymous Dan Bourque 

    This is purely a guess, but since their clothes seem a bit ruffled, I'm suspecting that the pictures were taken in mid-jump. Or, it could just be wind ruffling their clothes, and they really are levitating. :)

    Interestingly, the structure behind them seems to be an anchor point of a zip-line, which may be used for army training purposes. They *may* be hanging from the zip-line in a harness hidden by their clothes, and then Photoshop'ed the harness's straps. That's fairly easy to do, even in grainy photographs like these.

    Just my two cents. Keep the change.
    Cheers,
    -Dan.

  46. Anonymous Stefan 

    what a good idea!

  47. Anonymous Max 

    I'm baffled as to how this is done.

  48. Anonymous Dan Bourque 

    I'm more convinced than ever that they're in mid jump, since the images are named: MeJump.jpg and PaulJump.jpg. :) The platform and structure are misdirections.

    Cheers,
    -Dan.

  49. Anonymous cooly mccoolerson 

    its one of those childs toys where they are on a swing and they fly along a wire

  50. Anonymous Alex 

    i think that you guys are just standing and at it angle it looks like ur levitating, the deal with the shadows probably edited, but idk

  51. Anonymous anthony 

    yeah its realy simple.
    all these guys did was jump in the air and try to keep a straight face and body, and
    bigo.
    you've got the floating picture....
    its been done..before
    nothing new.
    but its a realy cool trick to take a picture of and show your friends and family..
    they will be blown away.

  52. Anonymous Broccoli 

    I got it!
    They are on the back stones and the stones in the middle are darker looking like the shadows
    so it looks like they are flying.

  53. Anonymous JON 

    Their Jumping

  54. Anonymous Kemuel 

    Well, I live fairly near Duxford and have been there a lot on school trips and such since I was a kid..

    That looks a lot like where I remember there once being a zipline..

    Can't see any cables to the line overhead, but it could have something to do with it.

  55. Anonymous NYOB 

    I think It is either a greenscreen or not an illusion at all..............

  56. Anonymous niki 

    their both standing on the ground, but because of the color of the tiles you can't tell. Not the best illusion, somewhat lame.

  57. Anonymous Jock. 

    I think this is achieved by the subject jumping and the photo taken at the highest point.

  58. Anonymous Eric 

    Gee, could it be they jumped in the air?????

  59. Anonymous me 

    it doesnt even look like theyre levitating theyre just standing on the block behind the one it looks like theyre levitating on

  60. Anonymous Thayne 

    you were jumping when the picture was taken. Easy :)

  61. Anonymous Mandie 

    It's quite apparent that the spies in question were simply caught in midair by the camera after they had jumped and attempted to look like they were only standing. The second spy doesn't look quite like he's just standing, as his hands and arms are a bit too rigid.

  62. Anonymous Ben 

    They just jump and take a picture when they are in the air.

  63. Anonymous Simon 

    The file names gives it away, The people are jumping and the camera snaps at just the right moment.

  64. Anonymous spam 

    i dont get it!!

  65. Anonymous Billy 

    it appears that they might be hanging from something, or a fast shutter as they jump.

  66. Anonymous Merlijn 

    Erm . . . he's not "levitating" under the wooden poles, but in front of them? and the shadow and gorund are all painted making it look impossible lol? And I maight be first comment.

  67. Anonymous None 

    Looks like they are just standing there.

  68. Anonymous guy 

    weird

  69. Anonymous O_O 

    So you jump up and try to look as motionless as possible . . . .
    Isn't this just a matter of taking the picture at the right time?

  70. Anonymous Marco Koolen 

    they jump....

  71. Anonymous Whitewood 

    Considering that the files are called MeJump and PaulJump... I would guess a jumping snapshot...

  72. Anonymous Jose Luis Castanedo 

    Both of you have no shadows, so I think It's a photo montage.

  73. Anonymous Nick 

    I think they take the picture just after have jump

  74. Anonymous raphael 

    Why has no one responded in a while? And whats the illusion??

  75. Anonymous raphael 

    why has no one posted for recent illusions? And whats supposed to be the illusion??

  76. Anonymous Herbert 

    jumping!!!

  77. Anonymous lex 

    erm.. i dunno it looks like theyre standing on the ground to me....

  78. Anonymous JAKE 

    All they did was jump and take a picture, keeping their bodies completely straight. Look at their clothes. They are rustled and moving, liked they jumped. This is stupid.

  79. Anonymous Thadeus Maximus 

    Ahh the jump technique

  80. Anonymous ethernity 

    I cant see any levitation?

  81. Anonymous Steffel 

    I've got two ideas:
    A) it's a simple poster where you can put your head through
    B) the persons are hanging on a transparent rope

  82. Anonymous Amanda 

    Shadow

  83. Anonymous Uwe 

    Nice one!

    Can't get it figured out though...

  84. Anonymous tmart 

    Um... when you call the picture "mejump.jpg" it's kind of obvious how it was done.

  85. Anonymous sbredflag 

    Only the second one looks like it's floating. Pretty cool though.

  86. Anonymous CleverName 

    Hmmm...it appears that they are simply jumping up in the air. Especially the second one.

  87. Anonymous Kurt Holdorf 

    I think they simply jumped up and took the picture at the "top" of the jump.

    The real trick is trying to look natural when you do that.

  88. Anonymous Houston Graham 

    That's awesome! How is this done?

  89. Anonymous er 

    I had to look hard to see levitation. Hmm.

  90. Anonymous sam 

    um....no i cant

  91. Anonymous Kai 

    If I said jump, would they say how high?

    Love this site!

  92. Anonymous me 

    they jumped.
    reminiscent of a show called The Young Ones.

  93. Anonymous Steven 

    You are both jumping in the air.

  94. Anonymous evan 

    easy. they just jumped. and i can prove my point because if you click on the 2nd picture, the title of the photo is "PaulJump.jpg" it looks cool though :]

  95. Anonymous Blah Blah 

    I don't get this illutsion.

  96. Anonymous terd ferguson 

    wheres the explanation of it?

  97. Anonymous kingpin 

    the second 1 i have no clue but the first 1 it looks like hes standing on the way back of the platform

  98. Anonymous hmmm 

    the first one isn't very good, really!

  99. Anonymous connor 

    the second one is clearly edited in

  100. Anonymous some guy 

    this is lame, and its supposed to be illusion of the day... not 3+ days

  101. Anonymous Annie 

    I think they jumped up, and before they came back to the ground the picture was taken. Second picture looks like that (jacket).
    But it's a great idea! :o)

  102. Anonymous Rob 

    Oh WOW so you jumped up and had someone take a picture. As if that's never been done before. Just look in any big fashion mag these days.... they do it all the time.

  103. Anonymous Nick 

    Oh! Is it one of those things where there's a painted picture and they've stuck their heads through a hole?

  104. Anonymous billy 

    i really can't see how the second one could appear to be levitating. for the first one, the spy is standing on the ground, but there is a slant in the ground below, which makes him appear like he's levitating. it's really pretty ez, but still an alright ilusion

  105. Anonymous Christina 

    PhotoShop.

  106. Anonymous zak 

    they're just jumping and taking a pic in mid flight... the shutter speed will be fairly quick...

  107. Anonymous upchuck 

    they jumped

  108. Anonymous Monster 

    They jumped.

  109. Anonymous Curt 

    Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump up and down in space....

  110. Anonymous Ronald 

    They jumped

  111. Anonymous Ben 

    The jump and take a picture while they are in the air.

  112. Anonymous Saibot 

    Look at the funny Russian JUMPING Beans. How interesting that the photographer captured them each in mid-air.

  113. Anonymous ms tyler 

    they are jumping

  114. Anonymous Yuri 

    I thin they are jumping, is it right?

  115. Anonymous brendan 

    they're standing farther back on the stones and tipping their ankles a little bit

  116. Anonymous anonymous 

    pretty cool

  117. Anonymous splat 

    This is kinda lame. Not really an optical illusion so much as a camera trick.

  118. Anonymous y bother 

    photo shop der

  119. Anonymous Nick 

    Um, did they jump?

  120. Anonymous cliffy 

    they are simply jumping

  121. Anonymous Kryztoval 

    Hahaha, nice jumping!

  122. Anonymous David 

    why isn't the shadow connected to his body

  123. Anonymous Spence 

    I don't know, they jumped?

  124. Anonymous Dillon Jeesusssnoko 

    what?

  125. Anonymous bob 

    what the hell

  126. Anonymous peter 

    they have just taken a photo while someone is jumping and have gaotten a frame when they are at the peak of the jump.

  127. Anonymous batman 

    How does he do it? Photoshop

  128. Anonymous peter