DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGING -- Week 05

19.05.2025 (Week 05)

Lee Xiang Ling / 0384095

Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylors University

Week 5 — Practical (Double Exposure) & Double Exposure

Lecture

Double Exposure

Double Exposure is a technique that merging multiple images, often seen in silhouette images. It can create surreal, emotional or humorous effects.

Fig 1.1 - Example of Double Exposure

Although the double exposure effect looks complicated, it can actually be easily achieved with your camera or Photoshop, and you don’t even need a dedicated double exposure camera.

1. Using the Tilt-Shift Effect

Transform your photos into soft works of art. It can blur one of your photos instead of the entire image.

To add this feature, go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift.

Fig 1.2 - Example of using the Tilt- Shift Effect into a soft work

2. Create fake reflection

Creating a double-exposure with the help of a separate window photo.

This is an example of a subject image overlaid with a window with raindrops and bokeh effects, which add interesting texture and atmosphere to it.

Fig 1.3 - Example of Create fake reflection

3. Experiment with simple portraits and details textured

The superposition of simple portraits and details textured can not only create a visual balance effect, but also enhance the expressiveness of the photo. It is a good way to save dull pictures.

Fig 1.4 - Example of Experiment with Simple Portraits and Details Textured

4. Convert your results to Black & White

A lack of colour will strengthen the emotions in your double-exposure images. Converting double exposure images to black and white can help emphasize emotional depth and create an artistic effect similar to film photography.

Fig 1.5 - Example of Convert your results to Black & White

5. Work with silhouette

Silhouettes are a very common way to create double exposures. They are often used in silhouette creation. They are not only simple and easy to do, but also can inspire unlimited creativity. You can try silhouettes of yourself, other people, or random objects. Anything else that catches your eye can create unique composite images.

Fig 1.6 - Example of Work with Sihouette

6. Pick two random photo

"A random process doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful. "

We can try to synthesize a double exposure image using two random photos. This often brings unexpected storytelling and artistic surprises and is a good way to explore creativity.

Fig 1.7 - A double exposure image using two random photos

7. Make simple objects look fascinating

Double exposure can give new meaning to ordinary photos and make ordinary things present a magical effect. This creative mode can greatly stimulate our imagination and creativity.

Example: A silhouette of a dull-looking building could become the outline of a starry sky like the photo below.

Fig 1.8 - Example of simple objects becoming fascinating

8. Use Shadow

Any type of silhouette works well in double exposure photography, and shadows can be just as effective as silhouettes and can be expressive and imaginative.

Fig 1.9 - Example of use shadow

Blend Modes

Blending modes are a process that requires constant experimentation, because the final effect is often unpredictable, so you need to constantly try and adjust to achieve unexpected results. This is a way to explore your creativity.

Fig 2.1 - Blend Mode Tool Description

For complex materials such as smoke and fire, using the appropriate blending mode can greatly simplify the synthesis process, avoid confusion, and improve efficiency and effects.

Select the Layer 1 (Fire) to be on top of the Background (Musicians)
Go to the Blending Modes option
Select “Screen”
As a result, all of the pixels on the fire will be selected as Screen blending mode.

Fig 2.2 & 2.3 - Example of combine the smoke on top of the image of the musicians

Exercise

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

1. Follow the WEEK 7 Tutorial Demo (DOUBLE EXPOSURE)
https://youtu.be/y2JuZUhZWZY

2. Download the images here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lDhDvSaro8tW7XCRa14nOqJO9bDRuqS6?usp=sharing

3. Attach the Project 2A: Double Exposure - PART 1 (DOUBLE EXPOSURE FOLLOW TUTORIAL)

4. Attach the Project 2A: Double Exposure - PART 2 (MY OWN DOUBLE EXPOSURE)

Project 2A: Double Exposure - PART 1 (DOUBLE EXPOSURE FOLLOW TUTORIAL)

This week's homework is Double Exposure. We use the materials provided by the professor and follow the professor's steps to practice.

Fig 1.1 - Materials provided by the professor

We used the Create Clipping Mask function to blend the images together, and added a Layer Mask to outline some parts to make the overall effect more natural and harmonious.

Fig 1.2 & 1.3 - The process of practicing Double Exposure

After adding the material, we first adjusted the overall brightness and contrast of the image through ‘Levels’. Then, we applied ‘Gradient Map’ to give color to the black and white gray image to enhance the layering and visual appeal of the picture. ”

Fig 1.4 - Double Exposure Follow Tutorial, JPG_Week 05

Project 2A: Double Exposure - PART 2 (MY OWN DOUBLE EXPOSURE)

After the previous exercise, we need to make our own Double Exposure. Since I don't often take photos of myself, I chose photos of characters I created in the game as base images.

Fig 2.1 - The Photo I used in Double Exposure

Before starting this assignment, I drew a sketch to express my initial ideas. I search for the materials I need on Pinterest to realize my sketch.

Fig 2.2 & 2.3 - My sketches and the materials

This is my creative process:

Fig 2.4 - The process

Finally, I encountered some difficulties in color harmony. I found that due to the high grayscale in the selected color system in the Gradient Map, the added colors often conflicted with the overall style and it was difficult to achieve harmony and unity. Based on this consideration, I finally decided to use a single color tone to ensure the unity and balance of the overall visual effect.

Fig 2.5 - The final Gradient Map's colour I choose

This is my final product:

Fig 2.6 - My own Double Exposure

My Thought: I sank into the blue sea, surrounded by surging waves and marine life. The sound of water and bubbles rising slowly echoed in my mind like a whisper from the deep sea. At this moment, I was surrounded by nature and silence. My body gradually merged with the sea water, and I felt a peace and connection beyond language. This is not only a physical immersion, but also a homing of the soul.

I also used the remaining materials to create another style of product.

Fig 2.7 - The other Double Exposure

Instruction

Reflection

Double Exposure is a novel and interesting way of creation. It can add story and artistic sense to ordinary photos, making the picture more varied and layered. This creative technique can fully convey the creator's emotions and ideas, giving the work a deeper connotation.

For me, this assignment was both enjoyable and has a high degree of freedom, allowing me to give full play to my creativity. I really enjoyed the whole creative process and gained a lot of inspiration and fun from it.

Search This Blog

XiangLingLee (0384095)