Ever been curious about how to achieve the beautiful double exposure effect for your photos? Here’s a tutorial showing you three ways to do it.
Double exposure is among our favorite creative photography techniques, and we’re sure it’s also high on the list of many experimental photographers out there. We’ve featured a lot of projects that make great use of this technique, whether it’s done in camera or crafted in post-processing. If all that inspired you and got you wanting to learn how it’s done, we have just the video tutorial you need.
In his quick video tutorial below, Toronto-based photographer and creative director Alen Palander shows us three ways on how to get gorgeous double exposures. Back in the day, the only way to do this effect is to shoot with a film camera that has a multiple exposure function, or to run a roll twice in a camera to produce overlapping images. But since then, there have been many ways for photographers to play around with it and get creative. Photoshop is of course one of the most obvious ones, but with this tutorial, you’ll find a number of other ways to suit your needs.
First way to do it is by shooting using a digital camera that has a multiple exposure function. If you’re not sure whether your camera has one, you can always look up the specifications of your camera model. The obvious advantage of this option is you’ll be able to create your double exposures as you shoot.
The second and easiest way to make cool doubles is through your mobile phone using the Snapseed app (available on Google Play and iTunes App Store). Once you have it downloaded, you only have to select an image from your phone as the first layer, then select Double Exposure under the Tools menu. Then, import another photo for your second layer. What’s great about this app is it gives you full control over how your double exposure image will look like through tools like overlay options, opacity setting, and paintbrush tool for removing the excess overlay as needed.
Lastly, of course, is by using Photoshop. A lot of photographers are already familiar with how this is done using layer options and cleaning out parts of the photo that they don’t want. Like the app, this option also allows you to work with two photos you’ve already taken in the past.
Want more photograpy tips from Alen Palander? Don’t forget to check out and subscribe to his YouTube channel!
Screenshot image from the video by Alen Palander