Inspiration: Multiple Exposure flowers
I have featured multiple exposure flowers in blog posts before but here I wanted to talk about the common methods I use to really show off the beauty that we all see in the amazing floral displays in our countrysides, gardens and parks. They are a really common subject to photograph as they are so accessible and there are a couple of nice and easy techniques that you can practice to get you well and truly into making dazzling multiple exposures.
Multiple Exposure Photography Image from The Quarry in Shrewsbury
The one in focus, one out of focus technique
This is a method I love to do as it creates a halo effect over the petals of the in focus flower and it looks a lot like it is glowing. It is what it says on the tin, take one photograph that is in focus and then switch to manual focus and make that flower very out of focus. It does have to be completely out of focus rather than a bit fuzzy or the out of focus layer won’t be soft enough to create the look you are aiming for. This can be done either in camera or in an editing tool such as Snapseed, Photoshop and Affinity. I tend to do this in camera as it is easier to compose the image, using the ‘average’ blend mode on my camera. Even if I decide to use a different blend mode, out of camera, later on, I know that my composition is correct - I am lucky though as my R6 mark ii does save the raw files as well as the multiple exposure jpeg. I tend to only use this technique mainly on a single bloom and I use a double exposure for this method.
The below images show you first of all how out of focus I mean. The first and second cow parsley image have been combined to form the final more glowing multiple exposure image. This was taken in camera on the 4 waterfalls walk on the South of Brannau Brychieniog (Brecon Beacons) in Wales.
The second image shows you the same thing but with a different flower (and a texture and different sized layers!). It may be a bit more complicated to make but the principle is the same., In camera and post processing were used on this image.
A Multiple Exposure Photography Image from RHS Wisley
Combining many layers to create a ‘carpet of flowers’
I love using this method to make more striking images and this can work for woodland as well as parks - as you will see I do love using it with tulips!
Again it is what it says on the tin - Making a few layers, anywhere between 2 and 4, of the group of flowers that you are trying to capture. You need to move the camera in between each shot to ‘fill in the gaps’ This is best done in camera or at least composed in camera so you get the positioning of the flowers meaning you have the coverage of the flowers making more of a carpet.
The first image here is this method using tulips. This was two images of the tulips. It does have a layer of texture over the top but it has two layers of tulips to increase their presence in this image. This also enables the brilliant colour of the tulips to shine through as I have processed this in photoshop.
With the second image here I have combined this technique with the one above and made a carpet with an in focus and an out of focus layer. This gives the impression of more flowers and gives much more depth to the final image. It can be really hard to get a carpet of flowers looking like a carpet unless there are massive field of them so using multiple exposure photography can help you to get the look that you want.
A Multiple Exposure Photography Image from RHS Wisley
A Multiple Exposure Photography Image from RHS Wisley
Photographing from different angles
Funnily enough this means exactly what it says as well! I know! Go figure! Anyway whereas with a tree I would normally walk all the way around it I would just turn the camera a bit to make sure that the centre with the anthers is lined up and the petals overlap. I would do this in camera first if my camera had this facility but actually this is quite easy to align in your editing programme once you have brought the images home.
Below is one taken with an osteospermum which really make excellent subjects for this kind of image, the petals overlap really nicely, creating a really nice soft feel and showing off both the colour and the flecks of petal really nicely.
Below that is the first flower I photographed in this way; I actually took the hellebore flower off and photographed it on my living room table. Nowadays I would get the angles wherever the flower was so as not to disturb it! But I am still rather proud of that picture.
Remember if you want to learn more then please do look at the other blogs, consider one of my courses or workshops or sign up to my FREE NEWSLETTER - I’d love to hear from you if you have any thoughts about this blog, techniques you use after reading this blog or anything else to do with multiple exposure - do drop me a line here. More than anything - enjoy your multiply exposing!
A Multiple Exposure Photography Image from my garden!
A Multiple Exposure Photography image of a hellebore
