What is Multiple Exposure Photography and How to Get the Stunning Effect
Last Updated on November 17, 2021 by Peter Wood
Have you ever seen the image where someone’s body turns into a tree? Or where a person seems to be talking to his or her clone? These photos are examples of multiple exposure photography. It is a technique created by combining two and more pictures in a single image. You can overlay a few exposures in one frame to achieve a surreal photo. Just learn more about multiple exposure photography and the best photo editors get the stunning effects from the article.
Part 1: What is Multiple Exposure Photography
Multiple-Exposure is a photography technique that combines two or more different exposures or images to create a unique effect. The images are layered on top of each other. The image overlaid is less than full opacity so a bit of the image can be seen producing an almost ghost-like image.
For digital photography, the multiple exposure photography can be created by your camera or using photo editor software. In the past, multiple exposure photos were used to create special effects. It is more of an aesthetic choice now. As an important photo effect, multiple exposure photography becomes widely used as well. You can find the photo effects on social media, such as Instagram.
Part 2: How to Create Multiple Exposure Photos
As mentioned previously, there are two ways to create multiple exposure photography, in-camera, and a photo editor.
Method 1: How to Create Multiple Exposure in-camera
Just use the zoom lenses as the example to show you how to create multiple exposure photography in-camera.
Step 1: Firstly, take four images in Average Multiple Exposure mode after setting up your camera. Do it with either aperture or shutter priority.
Step 2: In your photo, you set the white balance to 2500ºK in order to produce a strong blue tint and zoom out for a wide-angle shot. Take the first photo in the sequence after position the horizon in the top quarter of the viewfinder.
Step 3: Toggle on the LiveView option and zoom in slightly. It enables you to see the magnified overlay. It will become your next nearest line of hills. Then pan your camera to any different part of the horizon and create some topographic variety and tilt your camera up to the position of the next horizon just below the previous photo.
Step 4: Adjust the white balance to 4000ºK and change a less intense blue bias and take the second photo.
Step 5: Change the horizon lower still on the LiveView screen. Zoom in a little and set the white balance to 5500ºK. Then take the third photo.
Step 6: Zoom in fully. Then pan your camera again for the foreground interest. Position the horizon near the bottom of the screen and enhance the white balance to 7000ºK. Finally, take the final photo.
Method 2: How to Create Multiple Exposure with Photoshop
Photoshop is a professional photo editor. The part provides some basic steps that transform your images into multiple exposure effects. Just learn more details about the process from the article.
Step 1: Open two photos that you want to use in the multiple exposure effect. You can do it by hitting the File menu and choose the Open option.
Step 2: Make sure the two images gaining the same dimensions. Otherwise, resize one or both according to your need. Go to the Image Size option from the Image menu to open the image size dialog, and then adjust the Width and Height in Pixels for each of them.
Step 3: Firstly, decide to use which photo as the basic exposure. Then select the other image by going to the All option from the Select menu. Then choose the Move tool from the toolbar, select the image and drag it over the top of the basic exposure, and align them.
Step 4: Now, you can only see the top exposure in the image, but don’t worry, the basic exposure is still there. Select the top exposure in the Layers panel and change the Opacity to 60%. Then you will see the two images.
Step 5: There is a drop-down menu next to the Opacity option. It is the Blending option. By default, it appears Normal. Click and expand it, scroll down and select a proper mode. It will change the way to blend the two images for multiple exposure photography.
Step 6: Now, you will get a multiple exposure effect with your own photos. Next, go to the Layer menu on the top menu bar and choose Flatten Image to flatten everything into one layer.
Step 7: Finally, save and export the multiple exposure photos to your computer.
Note: These are the basic steps to create multiple exposures in Photoshop. For beginners, they are enough. Advanced users can experiment with more images and more complex techniques related to layers and masking.
Recommend: Best Photo Retoucher
It is not very difficult to create multiple exposure photography if you follow the guide. But the image quality is a big problem. Even Photoshop cannot guarantee keeping the original photo quality while editing. WidsMob Retoucher is a versatile method to polish your photos before making multiple exposure photography. Its main features include:
- Remove luminance noise and chrominance noise from photos in one click.
- Support almost all image formats including RAW files.
- Preserve and enhance photo quality with easy operations.
- Apply gorgeous analog film presets and camera profiles.
- Batch process multiple images at the same time.
In short, it is the best choice to polish your photos before making multiple exposure effect in your photo editor.
Conclusion
Based on the guide above, you should know what is multiple exposure and how to make this kind of photo effect on your own. If you are boring to share normal photos on social media, why not try this effect. Firstly, you can create it with a digital camera directly. Even if you have already taken some photos, it is possible to get the effect with Photoshop following our steps. We hope that our guide and introduction are helpful to you.