Experimental Photography

Jessica Hedley

Multiple Exposures

There is not distinctive relocation of where double exposures initially came from, it is believed that it had been discovered as part of early photographic experimentation In the early days these types of images would have been created in a darkroom, with taking two images and superimposing them onto paper which would be light sensitive,

therefore transferring one image to another.

With this type of manual control several types of effects using this method could be achieved, simply but the way the paper is layer and the areas of which the light hits. In today’s modern era, multiple exposure photography is used in many forms of media – as a way of doubling a subject and combining them into one image. Most popularly seen in

sports shots, landscape and portrait photography.

How is it done?Multiple exposure is a combination of two or more

separate images merged together to create one picture. There are two methods to creating this type of

photograph, both internally and externally of the camera.

To manually achieve this type of shot “in-camera”, the images are made by exposing a single frame twice. The first shot needs to be the background and blown out of every silhouette or shadow – so preferably the sky or a bright background. Achieving the technique also comes

down to shutter speed, whatever the meter reading of the subject is should equal to the shutter speed and the

exposure combined to create the shot. Most SLR cameras now come with a multiple exposure setting, composition is

key to creating and equally lined up shot and also incredibly bright natural or artificial lighting to work with

the exposure.

Out of camera – in Photoshop, this effect can be easily created by layering separate images on top of each other and lowing the opacity so that it covers the subject’s face but their features still remain distinctive. Working in black and white is the easiest method for multiple exposure but often with quick shutter speeds can be achieved in colour

e.g sports shots, moving images.

Harris ShutterHow is it done?

The Harris Shutter method is effectively a strip device made up of three colour filters. It was originally invented

by Robert. S Harris at Kodak, his method was creating colour images with the inclusion of primary coloured

layers exposures within this shot. To achieve these types of images the camera needs to be kept steady whilst

movement is occurring e.g. people, cars – whilst taking three exposures with red, green and blur filters.

It is a more unique twist on the multiple-exposure method but with the introduction of change filters through the lens

whilst the shot is been taken. When this effect was first discovered it was traditionally achieved by using three

filters in front of a still camera that consisted of coloured gels and two opaque segments. In today’s modern era, iPhone and photographic apps have been created that allows the effect to be copied more quickly and more

effectively in one shot rather than several.

It is also possible to manipulated and change current photographs using Photoshop by experimenting with the

RGB channel of each layer of an image or three images stacked.