How to levitate by standing next to a wet spot on the sidewalk

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

MORE: Weird

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

motus-anima

Photoshop or not, this is a nice illusion.
Anonymous

Who pissed on the sidewalk?
Anonymous

You can however see the shadow under the toe of his right foot. Remember kids photo shop exists.

The Smith.
Anonymous

Just cover the wet spot with your finger tip and the illusion disappears !!
Anonymous

But how did the wet spot get there to begin with?
Anonymous

I am not convinced. The light looks strong enough to cast a shadow, but I don’t see any shadowing, not even between his feet. If I zoom in on the pram in the right, I can see some shadowing.
Anonymous

Once you see… you can’t un-see…
Anonymous

this illusion is simple, can be done on ANY DAY.

doesn’t matter if it is sunny or cloudy, all you need is photoshop to edit the picture to remove your shadow.

a very well done image though.
joeposts

Is that how David Blaine does it?
- merreborn
  
  First thing I thought of as well.
  
  For the record, Blaine uses a combination of camera tricks and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balducci_levitation
roryrhorerton

Also, to take this photo without ‘shopping, you’d need to do it at the exact time the sun is directly overhead, or else your own shadow is gonna ruin things. Also, you better hope you’re no wider than your feet, or else your shadow will give you away then, too.
suburbanburn

Do not attempt this illusion on a sunny day. Shadow will destroy illusion.
Anonymous

Only works on an overcast day, eh?
Anonymous

I still can’t get my mind to show me him levitating.
Precarious Loaf

I do the same illusion in bed.
- oheso
  
  You beat me to it!
gollux

And after watching that Mandelbrot thing, I see him alternatively hovering and standing. Bad visual acid trip…
Chris Spurgeon

All I can say is thank goodness that that guy isn’t holding a pink Oujia board.
InsertFingerHere

Homeless people call the ‘Doug Henning’.
Anonymous

he actually stand on road and the wet spot is on his north east few inches away. lol
Anonymous

It seams that Romanians can levitate.The picture was taken in Iasi Romania.Cool!
coop

Anon @6

Don’t look at his feet, look at his face or chest, and ‘just barely notice’ the spot. It does look like a shadow over which he is hovering.

neat
Anonymous

at high noon