Multiple exposure in camera are the type of photos that make you super excited to shoot and to get it right in camera. They are captivating, evocative, and they invite you in for a closer look. This technique has began with film photography, some digital cameras now allow multiple exposures to be created in-camera, and the process can also easily be replicated using digital editing tools. Whatever method you use, experimenting with multiple exposures is a fun way to unleash your creativity and create imaginative, artistic images.
Multiple exposure in camera tutorial & deconstruction
We’re all used to seeing multiple exposure where one fills in the silhouette with a pattern of some kind. It could be plants, trees, water, patterns, etc.
They turn out beautiful, right?! When ever i get out shooting a couple session, i have amply time to try many thing one of which is multiple exposures.You can use this same process to get one straight out of the camera. Yes, that’s right not in photoshop but in camera. Let’s look into that.
How to get multiple exposure in camera ?
There are two types of multiple exposures. I’ll be referring to Canon, because that’s what I shoot.
Additive – Filling in the underexposed portion of the first exposure with the following exposure/exposures
Average – Simply combining more than one exposure, overlaying two or more on top of each other
Basically, the way I think about the Additive style multiple exposure is simply adding the light of the second exposure to the dark of the first exposure. I break it down to something simple. Underexposed, silhouette, or any other technical term used, to me, just means DARK. I know that I can add something to the dark portion of the first exposure with the second exposure. A little reminder I use for myself when shooting is, “add light to the dark of the first with the second.” This helps me think of how I can create something a little different than what we’re used to seeing, without being too technical. Light and dark, that’s all that comes to mind. Let’s look at some examples and I’ll walk you through the simple process.
*Since I use Canon, I always compose multiple exposures using the Live View. Yes, Canon makes it very, very easy to create multiple exposures, on the technical side of things. So, that’s just a big bonus shooting Canon.
ADDITIVE MODE

For this photograph, we had been shooting all day long close to sun set. I knew i wanted to take a multiple exposure. Positioned my couple in front of the setting sun and took a silhouette of the couple with the sun. I dint wanted to go full dark on the couple as I wanted little colour of bride dress. Thats been done, I knew i had to fill it with a really beautiful pattern. The next shot was of these leaves, recomposed the picture accordingly with the silhouette of the couple. I looked at the back of my camera and it turned out better than I imagined! Here is how it looked on the back of my camera:
This examples shows how to fill in the dark of a specific thing with another scene, but you can also fill in a dark background with anything you want!
Subjects in the middle, exposing for just the highlights, keeping that background super dark, and then filling in that dark with another exposure, which creates an interesting overlay. This is the opposite of filling in a silhouette. In this case, the “silhouette” is the entire background. The subjects are what you expose for. Here is an example of this process:
You can see in this photograph how the leaves act as the foreground and the background ! That’s pretty interesting to me, so that’s why I created this one.
Here are few more,
So, what does all of this mean? It means you’ll do so many THINGS with multiple exposures! It’s all about layering elements to make an interesting visual piece of art. You’ll obviously will take a ton pictures with one exposure, but having the multiple exposure in camera option broadens your opportunities to an entire new level! Like anything during a creative field, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TRYING. It’s always about trying new things and not being afraid to experiment with what you’ve got to work with! this world is an incredible place and with multiple exposures, you’ll possibly create a touch world of your own.
The gear we use in achieving “multiple exposure in camera” – Camera – 5d Mark iii, for cleanup Lightroom and Photoshop.
Shot by : Daniel