SEEING DOUBLE

Mike Harris shows you how to capture an ethereal double exposure image of a beautiful blossom in-camera

20 MINS

A multiple exposure is two or more photos overlaid on top of one another to form a single image. This technique dates back to the Victorian period, and could be achieved easily with a film camera by repeatedly exposing the same piece of film (leading to plenty of accidental multiple exposures if you forgot to wind the film on…).

Today you can make a multiple exposure in post-production, but many digital cameras allow you to replicate this age-old form of image manipulation in-camera with dedicated multiple exposure modes. Part of the charm of working this way is that you never quite know what you’re going to get until the camera processes the final image. From moving the camera in tiny increments to spinning it around the same focal point, there are lots of ways to capture creative multiple exposures, and experimentation is the order of the day.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to get started with a simple double exposure, by merging an image of a sharp subject with an out-of-focus backdrop – the resulting image has an ethereal quality that complements the soft hues and delicate nature of the floral subject. It’s worth noting that the number of exposures that can be captured and blended will depend on your cameras, and some don’t feature a dedicated multiple exposure mode at all – if your camera doesn’t have this function you can still create multiple exposures by overlaying images on top of one another in Photoshop using various opacities and blending modes.