Basically, Double Exposure, or Multiple
Exposure, is a photographic technique in which we superpose two or more
pictures to form a single photo, in order to create some magical special
effects. This technique actually has been applied from the time of photography
using films with some camera models which supported this feature manually.
A
photo using Multiple Exposure feature on photographer Denise Ippolito’s Canon
5D Mark III
If long ago, to apply this technique of
superposing photos, you had to expose many times on the same 35mm plate; today,
users can use software on their computer (like Photoshop) or just use the
Multiple Exposure feature built in several series of DSLR cameras. On the DSLR
camera market today, most of Nikon models, some Olympus models (E-30, IS-3 DLX,
E-620, Pen E-PL1), some of Pentax (K30, K5 , K5 II, K5 I IS, K-r, Pentax Q and
Pentax Q10); along with two models of Canon (EOS-1D X and EOS 5D Mark III) are
integrated with this superposition feature. The basic technique is almost the
same on all cameras. However, it should be noted that, depending on the
specific models, the maximum number of shooting may vary (that is, Canon 5D
Mark III allows superposition from 2 to 9 images).
Here is how to apply Multiple Exposure
technique to superpose four different photos with Canon 5D Mark III:
First, to enable Multiple Exposure feature,
press the Menu button to access the control menu. In the first camera icon in
the system menu, scroll down and select "Multiple Exposure". At this
time, there will be two different options "ON function/control" and
"ON continuous". With the option "ON continuous", you will
not be able to review or save continuous snapshot series into individual images
on your computer. If you select the option "ON function/control", the
device will save each image independently (which can see reviewed) before
stacking them into one.
Select
"On:Func/Ctrl" in case you need to review and save images as
individual files before stacking them into one.
Here, as the number of files to be superposed
is quite few (four photos), the option "ON function/control" will be
selected. Also in this option, there will be a variety of other options such as
"Additive, Average, Bright and Dark." Each option will offer you a
different experience. Specifically, the "Additive" will simply stack
images together; and if many images with high brightness are stacked, the final
result photo will be too bright (overexposure). Meanwhile, the option "Average"
is appropriate for the case of shooting (with little or no movement of the
camera) a scene several times. This option also tends to produce a result photo
with the same exposure no matter how different the user sets the exposure on
each shot to be. Only the exposure option "Bright" is often used when
the scene almost has a completely black background. Conversely, users can use
the option "Dark" to let the caemra automatically ignore bright areas
of the photo as it superposes photos.
The
exposure option “Addictive” tends to keep the same exposure value of each
individual image.
Once you have selected the exposure option like
that, the next thing to do is to select the specific number of shots (2 to 9),
then press the "Set" button to set the changes.
In the screenshot below, the photographer
Denise Ippolito used the Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens, setting Multiple
Exposure mode as "ON function/control", selecting the exposure option
"Average", focal length f/5.6 and shooting slightly underexposed. To
minimize flicker as well as help increase the accuracy when you need to move
the device, users should preferably use a tripod.
Always
pay attention to the Histogram to make photos look
a little darker.
In the next shot, at the same position as he
was before, he took a completely out-of-focus photo of a photo to create a blur
effect for stacking multiple photos together.
A
deliberate out-of-focus shot to create a blur effect when
stacking the images
together.
Particularly for the next two photos, the photographer
moved the pots a little to the right and then to the left respectively from its
original position. You can also move the camera horizontally in case you cannot
move the subject, but try not to change the angle.
Moving
the camera or the subject a little to the right and then to the left
respectively from its original position.
Not only for the EOS 5D Mark III model, EOS-1D
X users can also capture photos in RAW format and then use these pictures as
the first photo for the series of photos taken in Multiple Exposure mode. To
select a photo as the first of a series of Multiple Exposure photos, select
"Select image for multiple exposure" from the "Multiple
Expousre" menu of the device; then find and select a photo you like to
start shooting the next photos. However, it should be noted that the actual
number of times of shooting photos will be equal to the number of photos
specified in the Multiple Exposure menu minus 1.
The Multiple Exposure shooting technique is
generally not too difficult if you're lucky enough to own a DSLR which supports
this feature. However, with DSLR models that do not support automatic exposure
options such as Canon's two models, users need to pay attention to the
appropriate manual exposure adjustment in order that the final result is not
too bright, because light reduction level will depend on the number of shots.
Specifically, if you shoot two times, you need to reduce -1 stop in every shot,
then continue reducing -2 stop if the number of shots is 4 and decrease to -3
stops if the number of shots is 8.
