photoshop CC

Film buff James Paterson shows you how to create stunning double exposure effects with simple blending techniques and tonal controls

tutorial 2 Create stunning double-exposure effects in Photoshop CC

Back in the days of film a double exposure could be created by exposing the same frame of film twice, without winding it on. The result would be an abstract mixture of two images.

It was an unpredictable and rather charming effect, and in the days before Photoshop, one of the very few ways in which photographers could blend two images into one.

The popularity of the effect remains to this day, especially in TV and film (notably in Adele’s trippy Send My Love music video and the excellent opening credits to the TV series True Detective). In fact, in an era of digital perfection, the old-school charm of double exposures seems to grow stronger and stronger.

These days, we can use Photoshop to create almost the exact same result as if the two images had been shot on film, simply by merging them with the Screen blending mode. It works by adding the lightness from each layer together. And if you think about it, this is very similar to combining the light from two scenes on a single piece of film.

Of course, with Photoshop we have far greater control. Not only do we have the freedom to try it on any two images we like from our library, we can also fine-tune the positioning of each element in the mix until it’s perfect. What’s more, we can use tonal tricks to control which details on each image show through, and finish off by blending a texture in too.