The technique behind...

 

 

San Dimas, CA, April 1996.
Poppies in a fallow field next to my friend Steve's house, double exposure.

 

This image was produced on location with a double exposure technique which has long been my favorite.
I put the camera (Hasselblad 503CX w/ Makro-Planar CF 4/120) on a tripod, focused and measured exposure. I did not record the actual settings, but let's assume it was f-11, 1/125 for the GPX 160 film I used. Next, I took the first picture at about half the correct value, in this case, f-16, 1/125. Then I took the magazine off, cranked the camera, replaced the magazine, and took another picture over the first one, with the same exposure value, but this time I put the image completely out of focus. To enhance the out-of-focus effect, I used the widest aperture opening I could get with the 1/500 shortes shutter speed of my camera and set it to f-8, 1/500. Then I had to wait for the film to come back from the lab to see if I had achieved the desired effect.

I have experimented quite often with this technique and got the most pleasing results if the base exposure (the one in focus) was half or two thirds of the correct exposure setting; the secondary exposure should be set at a value to add up to about the correct overall exposure. When you split the value in half, this is easy to do; if you use thirds, it could be approximate. The total exposure for the frame could be slightly overexposed, but never under, as this effect looks nicer on hi-key type images. In other words, be generous with the total exposure.

This effect can now also be achieved, without any risk of wasting a few frames of film, and with total control over the effect, by using the Gaussian Blur Overlay technique in Photoshop as described by Michael Reichmann. However, if you want to make traditional darkroom prints from your originals, the "old" technique will be very useful.

 

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