By Vurdlak on August 22, 2006, with 191 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.
(15 votes)
Shadow
Um… when you call the picture “mejump.jpg” it’s kind of obvious how it was done.
Only the second one looks like it’s floating. Pretty cool though.
Hmmm…it appears that they are simply jumping up in the air. Especially the second one.
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.
That’s awesome! How is this done?
I had to look hard to see levitation. Hmm.
um….no i cant
If I said jump, would they say how high?
Love this site!
they jumped.
reminiscent of a show called The Young Ones.
You are both jumping in the air.
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 :]
I don’t get this illutsion.
wheres the explanation of it?
the second 1 i have no clue but the first 1 it looks like hes standing on the way back of the platform
the first one isn’t very good, really!
the second one is clearly edited in
this is lame, and its supposed to be illusion of the day… not 3+ days
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)
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.
Oh! Is it one of those things where there’s a painted picture and they’ve stuck their heads through a hole?
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
PhotoShop.
they’re just jumping and taking a pic in mid flight… the shutter speed will be fairly quick…
they jumped
They jumped.
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump up and down in space….
They jumped
The jump and take a picture while they are in the air.
Look at the funny Russian JUMPING Beans. How interesting that the photographer captured them each in mid-air.
they are jumping
I thin they are jumping, is it right?
they’re standing farther back on the stones and tipping their ankles a little bit
pretty cool
This is kinda lame. Not really an optical illusion so much as a camera trick.
photo shop der
Um, did they jump?
they are simply jumping
Hahaha, nice jumping!
why isn’t the shadow connected to his body
I don’t know, they jumped?
what?
what the hell
they have just taken a photo while someone is jumping and have gaotten a frame when they are at the peak of the jump.
How does he do it? Photoshop
The secret is in the shadows. There is a shadow that suggests the levitating. In fact the persons stand firmly on the ground. Nice effect!
Why, they jumped!
No, you guys cant be THAT blind! STAIRS!!! Their feet are on the edge of a stair!!
has anyone notive that the appars wider in the first one?
wow there is alot on this..i have no clue…but id have to go with jumping…
=^.^=
It’s obvious they’re jumping (mejump.jpg pauljump.jpg) but the could have chosen a better place to do it, it just looks like they’re standing up.
they are just standing!!
Wow, what a response!
We were bored, so we just decided to try and hoax floating. Most of the respondents were right: we jumped up in the air and took the photo at the top of the jump with a high shutter speed. Since the photo was taken at the top of the jump, we weren’t moving much and the shot froze us perfectly.
That’s all there is to it: no photoshop trickery, no wires, nothing. But we were floating in mid air, if only for a split second…
Thery’re just standing there but it looks like they’re jumping – how could all these people not notice that?
Bug, did you read all the comments posted before you?
there just standingin the back
you named the pics me jump and paul jump…… you gave it away i mean come on at least me float and paul float!!
DUH! their feet are still touching the floor! its really easy to see in the second one
it simply looks like they are jumping, when they could simply be standing on the edge of the tiled floor thing.. no jumping
ok then aaron expain how the shadow lies if there on their tip- toes
Its quite simple really, the man in the white coat is sat on the fence, and the man in the black coat is balancing on the fence on his finger tips! Click on the image to enlarge it and you’ll see!! The fence seems further away because of the camera angle!
Um it just looks like there standing…
i is standing on top and the walk is slanted down so that is the result
This is no jump
They are goasts
the “shadow” is painted/drawn on the floor already and they are standing behind it.
youe all ******* dumb they are simply standing around when the persons taking the picture above about 2 feet off the ground below the hill there standing on DUH P.S. theres a wind blowing to the west…
ok… either you people are all INCREDIBLY STUPID or VURDLAK HAS STRUK AGAIN.
If it’s you guys: READ THE COMMENTS BEFORE YOU GIVE THE SAME EXPLANATION AS THE 100 PEOPLE BEFORE YOU!!!!
And if it’s Vurdlak: FIX THE DELAY WITH THE COMMENTS!!!
WHY is there such a long delay? Its not like Vurdlak actually seems to bar any of the comments- why not just put them up immediately and block them afterwards if necessary???
And why do my comments always go on and on and on and on…? I annoy even myself.
(And I don’t reckon they’re jumping- if they are why bother with the wooden frame?)
i think the real question here is why do these pictures look as if they are drawn????
THE SHADOW!!!! THE SHADOW OR WET DARK SPOT ON THE FLOOR CREAT THE ILLUSION AS IF IT WAS THE GUYS SHADOW… THATS THE ILLUSION
They are not jumping…
I’m really surprised the vast majority of you guys didn’t notice the fact THEY ARE SIMPLY STANDING on the back part of the wooden platform, giving you the illusion they are levitating or jumping, as your brain gets centered at the center part of the wood.
Not impressive; in fact, from the beginning, I knew they were standing in the back part, now if you look at their feet, they’re just positioned in an unorthodox way.
Simply that, nothing more.
Now the shadows…those could have been edited, but if you look at the bottom of the shoes of the guy in the second picture, you’ll notice a shadow ON the wood.
THEY ARE NOT JUMPING!
if you cover up everything exept for their feet you see they are clearly just standing.
p.s.notice how they are both in the same place.
No….. THEY ARE jumping.. at least TWO people have pointed out it says mejump.jpg and pauljump.jpg
Unless thats supposedly part of the “illusion” -.-
der feet are on the ground lol no jumpin its jus da angle they take da photo from
This is what I think:
Either they are jumping (Clothes suggest this), they are standing still (shadow suggests this), or they are suspended from that wooden post.
oh my goodness its not that hard they are on a slope and the angle the camera is at it makes it look as if they are floating but really it is just a hill they are NOT JUMPING!
its just he angle of the camera, they are standing kinda further
I cant even see them off the ground
“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” “
BS !!!
He is jumping. If they stand on a hill, there would be shadows on the ground ending on their feet.
It looks like they are standing back or standing on their toes. The ground is shaped weird, but i can see their feet are on the ground. Only someone with terrible eyesight could think they were not touching the ground!
dumbasses its the tiles.
they painted them to look like they are really flat
there not