Saturday, May 24, 2014

Experimenting with multiple exposures in Photoshop

Each of the images below is a result of multiple exposing as many as six separate files of the same scene in Photoshop and allowing some of each layer to come through. The photos were not taken with the camera on a tripod so each layer is slightly out of register with the others. Several of the layers were blurred, either with a Gaussian blur or motion blur, to serve more as a softening background color for the other layers. Not much was done to the colors, but as the layers built up the colors intensified. The opacity of the top layer was dialed down to control the amount of bleed through from the layers below it.

These images were all recreated from images I pulled from situations I had photographed over the past few months. It was simply an experiment. I like the soft, dreamy feeling the technique imparts to each scene. Now that I know what the results are like I may intentionally photograph some future scenes with this technique specifically in mind.

Foggy morning with the Brooklyn Bridge. One layer in focus is placed over one out of focus layer of a slightly different camera position.


Florida sunrise.  One focused layer placed over the same image with Gaussian blur. A separate out of focus layer of clouds place over everything to add the mist.


Spring blossoms, New York.  A blurred layer placed over a focused layer of the trees, and a photo of the gull placed beneath both.


Spring in the forest at Walden Pond. Motion blur in a vertical position caused the streaks. This layer was placed over a  focused layer of the forest. 


2 comments:

  1. Interesting images. Were they blended in Photoshop by reducing the opacity of the top layers or by using a blending mode such as "Soft Light?"

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  2. I simply reduced the opacity in Photoshop. At this stage I was just experimenting.

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