Conspicuous Levitating Spies

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.



192 Replies to “Conspicuous Levitating Spies”

  1. 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”

  2. 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.

  3. 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…

  4. 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.

  5. 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!

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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 ;)

  9. 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 ..?

  10. 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. :)

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

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

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

  20. 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.

  21. 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.

  22. 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?

  23. 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.

  24. 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

  25. 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.

  26. 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 :]

  27. 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)

  28. 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.

  29. 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

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

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

  32. 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!

  33. 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.

  34. 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…

  35. it simply looks like they are jumping, when they could simply be standing on the edge of the tiled floor thing.. no jumping

  36. 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!

  37. 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…

  38. 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?)

  39. THE SHADOW!!!! THE SHADOW OR WET DARK SPOT ON THE FLOOR CREAT THE ILLUSION AS IF IT WAS THE GUYS SHADOW… THATS THE ILLUSION

  40. 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.

  41. 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.

  42. 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” -.-

  43. 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.

  44. 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!

  45. “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.

  46. 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!

  47. I went to school with these two and was on that trip with them. Quite simple really, they just jumped and we took the shot at the right time. The one of Charlie is the better of the two, but when you look at Paul it’s obvious from his posture that he’s mid jump. We weren’t clever enough to do it any other way and others have suggested.

  48. LOOOL “Only someone with terrible eyesight could think they were not touching the ground!”

    only a no brainer could not realize that the shadows don’t match if they were STANDING. ridiculous idiot. brain usage beats eyesight by far lol

  49. if they were standing there shadow would meet there feet, they’re obviously jumping. no camera tricks or illusions.
    wow, you people are stupid.

  50. no no no you are all really cose but here soulotion:
    ok its all the shadow.Really.No lying.The truth
    lyes withen you .Vurdlack,am i right about the shadows?

  51. If you cover up the shadow with your finger, it appears that the subjects are standing on firm ground. When you see the apparent shadow, it appears the subjects are levitated.

    I think it’s more likely they were caught jumping than that the shadow was doctored.

  52. Check it out. They’re jumping. The first fellow’s coat creases in on his legs and around his hands in his pockets. If the wind were blowing, wouldn’t his scarf blowing? Go jump in a trench coat, you’ll see.

    Second dude. Obvious jump. The left pant leg is flared towards the camera and flat against his skin. His other pant leg is not, it is flaring outwards. The way the fabric rolls is obvious that it was caused by a sudden downward force. Like jumping. Plus he looks a bit scared. He’s too tense and awkward to just be ‘levitating’.

    Last. The pictures have the word ‘jump’ in them. Srsly?

  53. they are jumping! you can see their shadows are further away from them than they would be if they were just standing! Thes second guys feet look like is in the air also!

  54. As someone pointed out before, they are not jumping or anything, it’s not even a real picture. It’s photoshoped.
    Please look at their shadows, they have none.

  55. ffs you dumb arses, they are jumping!
    the shadow proves they are not on the ground
    the shadow also proves the ground is not curved, if it is the shadow will be curved too

  56. Ok lets settle one thing. whatever else may be true, they are absolutely not standing on the ground. Look at there shadows. They don’t meet their feet. Your shadow always meets your feet if you are on the ground. that’s just the way it is. It doesn’t matter about angles or size, or perspective. Anything that is on the ground will be toughing it’s shadow. ALWAYS

  57. P.S. even if you cover the shadow it still looks nothing like them standing still. Look at the second guy’s feet. their position does not match the contours of the ground.

  58. They’re jumping. Notice the slightly stressed postures of the 2 men, and the dynamics of the clothes.
    Also, notice the shadows of the 2 men in the right bottom side of the men.

    They jump, immediately posing like they’re standing normally, but the clothes, posture and shadows give them away.

  59. the slabs 2 the the right r lower down than the ones they r stood on u cann see this by the foot in the second pic

  60. They cant be standing; the shadows of the feet are not right next to the feet themselves, but they are disconnected. They might be jumping, but it doesnt look like it. But I might be wrong. Im only 13. :P

  61. I’m not saying that they’re jumping, but their feet are off of the ground. Just look at the shadows

  62. They are jumping. The illusion lies in how the shot was taken. The photos were shot pretty much the same time they took off, so the final shot captured them in the air before they reached their maximum jump height.

    It’s best executed by Natsumi Hayashi (Tokyo’s “Levitating Girl”).

  63. if the light is coming from directly above, then there is no visible shadow. the first doesn’t even look like he is levitating, and the second guy is standing with his feet turned out.

  64. It’s the puddle. It’s really close to the edge, and the guys are standing behind it. The position in which this picture is taken makes it look as if the guys are levitating.

  65. Did it ever occur to anyone that are simply standing still? The ‘shadow’ could easily be made by putting some water on the ground.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *