Transcripts
1. Intro: Hello and welcome to the double exploited, a photography course where you will learn how to create eye-catching double exposure photographs with help of your camera. And Patricia, My name is Victor Dundee and I will be leading you through this course. A little about me. I'm a commercial photographer and visual artist. My pictures can be found all around the world in magazines, book covers, billboards, TV and online. They were seen by millions of people. And today, I'm happy to share some of my knowledge with you. At this point, I traveled the world full time and lead a remote digital nomad lifestyle and dedicated to this multiple exposure photography genre. I've turned my passion into a business. This course is designed for beginners who want to learn a new fun creative skill. And also for advanced photographers who want to enrich their portfolio with artistic content. After completing this course, you will be able to create double exposure photographs that you can post on your Instagram to increase your engagement. Also, if someone's birthday is coming up, then frame double exposure portrait of them can be a great idea that will express your affection in an artistic way. In the course, I will cover in details everything you need to start creating. How to shoot your models, basic portrait lighting, Photoshop brasses and techniques, what to combine your portraits with and how to do it. I will give you digital materials to work with so that you will be able to follow along step-by-step and feel successful right away. This will prepare you to shoot and combine your own double exposures from start to finish. The ideal students for this course is any person for creative expression. If you are an amateur or a beginner, it will be easy to start and apply the knowledge that you will acquire. If you are an intermediate or even Advanced Visual Artists, then this course will add to the roster of your skills and enhance your portfolio.
2. White background. Why? And How?: Hello and welcome. In this course, I will describe the easiest and the facet method of creating double exposures. The good news is that this method also produces the most eye-catching compositions. So by learning these fast method, you won't compromise on quality. At the same time, it is a great introduction to the world of double exposure. And when you will learn this method, you'll also understand the underlying principle and will be able to keep experimenting and discovering new tricks. If more students are interested in the technique, then there is a good chance that they'll create additional courses on double exposure, where I will describe other styles. There is also a way to combine portraits with paintings and drawings. So follow me and subscribe and keep an eye on updates, not to miss the new chapters of the double exposure cars. Please find the link to the resources below this video. In the resources you find the same images that I'm using in the tutorial. So if you want to follow along and create the same artwork that I'll be creating in this story, then you are very welcome to do this. That is actually very helpful because besides understanding the theory, you will also develop practical memory. So I really recommend following along with me. Or if you feel confident enough, then in the resources you'll also find a variety of other portraits and second exposures. You can choose your own combination and follow the steps of this tutorial to mix it into a final composition. There are ten portraits and 10-second exposures. So you'll have plenty of fun creating your double exposures. Does don't forget to share your results and post them in the student's project section of this course. Now, I'll be describing the process to shoot portraits and second exposures. If you want to learn the Photoshop process first, then you can skip this part and back to it later. If so, then fast forward to the time stamp on your screen now, if you decided to stay, then let's discuss how to shoot portraits. The easiest way is to shoot portraits on a white background. There are several ways of achieving it. Just keep in mind that let's say a white wall won't necessarily give you the perfect white background that we are trying to achieve. We need to achieve a white background where there is no or almost no information left, just white pixels. It's so-called burned out white background. This is how we can get it. The easiest method is to use this guy as your background. Just keep in mind that not all parts of the sky are bright enough. Let's take clear skies and example. You are looking for the part that is closer to the Sun, but not too close because it might create flyers in your frame. I like to shoot around four PM when the sun is not right above you, but is already halfway to touch the horizon. This way the sky in the frame will be already sufficiently lit by the sun, won't be low enough to be inside your composition. Ok, this is clear. Now we need to understand where you could get access to so much open sky without any objects, are structures appearing in the frame? It all comes down to the location. The easiest and the most universal occasion would be some elevated area. Usually even a little hill would have I'll spot like that. So the main thing to understand is that there should be absolutely nothing in your frame beside the model and the bright sky. This way, you'll get a suitable portrait for your double exposure. Just count your location. Find elevated spot where there is a good view of the sky and nothing on the way to it. I usually scout my locations before bringing the model to that place. Just because sometimes expectations don't meet reality. Keep in mind the position of the sun. Will it be in the desired position at the time of the shooting? If your application doesn't face the west, then you could shoot in the morning. But that will have to be around 09:00 AM and not everyone is ready for such commitment. The second possible type of location would be a rooftop. The building has to be high enough so you don't have objects in your frame. The good thing about most of the roofs is that you have 360 degrees and can face any part of the sky. The third type of location is a room in the building. Again, it has to be elevated enough to clear the frame of other structures. The fourth type is a beach or other flat and open large landscapes such as the field. The fifth type is a white wall. It has to be lit with a direct sun. It even can be a gray wall. If lit by the sun, then it will still appear white in the photograph. And finally, the fifth option is to use an external flash. You'll also need a white or gray wall. In this case. Just place the flash behind your model so the light falls on the wall. Makes sure that the light won't be on your model. The model will be lit with the reflected light that will bounce off your room. This way you will achieve a good part right shot. Now we have an idea of the suitable locations. There is another factor that comes into play. Your model has to be in the shadow, so your location has to have a good view of the sky. And it also has to have some object or structure that will cast a shadow onto your model. Let's go through the location types again and see how you could achieve that. First time. The hill, you would most likely be looking for a tree in this scenario, there might be also some structures that could cast the shadow. Just remember that you'll still need to have skype fully visible in the background. If you find a tree that makes sure that there are no light rays on the face of your model. Because most of the time, the tree shadow has this light patches that you want to avoid. Be aware of that. Second type, rooftop. Some rooftops have trees, but most likely you will be actually looking for some structure that would create a shadow on your models phase. Third tab, a room in a building. Most of the time, it will have a natural shadow. And this is why it is quite a good option. Also because the shadows in the rooms are usually much darker and the contrast will be even stronger. That's a good thing. If the room that you are shooting in is not high enough, but it has a white curtain. Then you could try covering the window with it. It might diffuse the sunlight and even if you have some objects behind it in your frame, then they might not be as visible because there'll be diffused. Additionally, you could try blurring the background by decreasing the aperture value to 1.8 or whatever is the minimum in your camera. Fourth type, the beach. Again, look for a tree or a structure.
3. Camera settings: Okay, now you have a model and a suitable location. Let's define the camera settings. I prefer to shoot in manual mode because it gives more flexibility. In this case, my preferred settings are aperture around 5.6. Most of the times lenses are at their best at this aperture, you will get a nice sharp portrait. The shutter speed. I usually try to set it to 200th of a second. It's not always possible though, because it can produce a dark shot. In this case, you can slow down your shutter speed. 160th or a 120th is still fine if you don't have a stabilizer in your camera, just be aware of your handshaking. If you're trying to produce a commercial quality. If not, then even slower shutter speeds might still work. If you have a stabilizer, you can slow down your shutter speed even more. It all depends on your camera capacity and the purpose that you're shooting for. Iso, I try not to go over 200. Otherwise the noise will start appearing in the shot. But again, I always intend to produce commercial quality. If you're images, we'll mainly be used for Instagram or other social media platforms. Then you can go beyond 200 ISO and way beyond that. Another important technical bind is that it is always better to shoot in RAW format to achieve the best results. You'll have much more flexibility in the post-production this way because you'll be able to correct brightness and recover details in the shadows. If you are not familiar with developing Ra, then I'd really recommend trying to work with it. But if you are not ready, then JPEG is also totally fine. With day bag. You'll need to do your best to set proper brightness during the shooting process. If JPEG is your choice than in the beginning, it is probably better to start shooting darker portraits while still making sure that the sky is bright enough to turn it completely white later in Photoshop. Alright, now you have an idea of the technical aspects of the shooting process.
4. DE Composition & Shooting Portraits: Let's discuss the composition. The fastest way to start is to shoot your models profile and is better to shoot close ups. There are reasons for that. You'd want to start with shooting profiles because it's the easiest way to make the whole thing work. The silhouettes are very important in double exposure. Imagine a portrait combined with the leaves. Now by Jean that you remove all colors and leave only black and white, no greys. Your sky is wide and your model and leaves are totally black. To the point. You'll see there, sulla, it's only. So the idea is that you can create a recognizable composition already with just these totally black silhouettes. Imagine that on one side you see a clear profile of a model, and on the other side of it you can see a clear silhouette of the leaves. It is already a good composition. So this is what you'd want to try to achieve when you are just starting your experiments. Keep the silhouette of the leaves and the models profile pronounced and clearly defined. Even if you mess everything else up, then just having this in place will produce a satisfying result. And then all the colors and shapes that will appear inside of it. We'll make the composition even better. It's a good idea to keep this concept in mind when you are shooting. So what's the reason for making clothes up portraits? Well, as somebody told, if the portrait doesn't look good, then you just didn't come close enough or something like that. First of all, closed-up portraits always have a greater impact on the viewer. But secondly, and that's important for us, is that there'll be more space for exposing your second exposure. Keep in mind that the second exposure will appear in the darker parts of the portrait. The darker it is, the better the second exposure will expose itself, so to speak. So to summarize, you wanna shoot close ups because there'll be more space inside your models had and it will be easier to fill it in. Sounds weird, but I guess that's the best way to describe it. And the more space inside the models silhouette you'll have, the more forgiving the whole composition will be in the sense that you'll be able to make mistakes and it will still look good. Does the best composition for practicing?
5. Shooting Second Exposures: Now let's look into the process of shooting second exposures. These are the photographs that you will be combining your parser is with. And again, we'll follow the same principle. And in this course, I'll describe to you how to shoot second exposures so that you can achieve the best results quickly. Okay, the easiest way to start is to shoot leaves of the trees on a white background. You already know how to achieve a white background. It is even easier to achieve it when you are shooting second exposures. Because now you don't need to look for a special locations. You can do it pretty much anywhere, as long as your camera faces the bright part of the sky. Most of the time your camera will be facing up, so it will be easier to avoid unwanted structures in the frame. And this is the main reason why you won't need to scout locations. Just walk around and find suitable trees and plants with health leaves on them. The trick is to shoot close ups of those trees. Makes sure that the leaves are big in your frame. This way they're silhouettes will be more recognizable and you will get good results. It's important to avoid branches in the frame when you're just starting. Branches are complicated because they might look like scars on the face in the final composition. Also try to avoid gaps between the leaves. If you'll have gaps, then they will appear as white spots on the face in the final composition. And thus, it will be more complicated to combine both shots and varchar. So your first shots should look something like this. The leaves are big and healthy. They are silhouette is pronounced and there are no gaps between the leaves. Also tried to shoot in a way that the side that is filled with leaves, left side in this case is darker. Because the darker it is, the better the phase of the ER model will be exposed.
6. Photoshop: Adjusting and Preparing the Portrait: Alright, now we are ready to import our photographs into Photoshop. Here we go. Let's open the portrait first. This is an example straight out of my camera. I've chosen this photo because it has an almost perfect white background. It was shot against the sky in a rice field in Bali. The rice field was vast and this is why I had access to a large part of the bright sky. All I had to do is to ask the model to stand in the shadow of a tree. Let's adjust this image and make it even better. I will use Camera Raw Filter for this purpose. If you don't have it installed, then later I'll show you how you can achieve similar results without this filter. I'm turning almost all possible adjustments. Exposure, contrast, white, and highlights. To achieve a satisfying result. The practice is all that matters here. Pay special attention to highlights and White adjustments as they might help you to make your background completely white if it is still grayish on your portrait. One of the ways to check if your background is actually white is to press this button on the histogram. And if the background turns red, then it means that it is completely while. Also pay attention to the clarity adjustment as it will help you soften the skin of your model. Vibrance and Saturation are two methods that complement each other to help you make your image more colorful. Alright, we are done. Now let's see before and after. You can see that the background on the original image is not fully wide and after Camera Raw adjustments is perfectly white. Now, this is important and this is what makes the whole method work. Now let me show you how you can achieve similar results without the Camera Raw Filter. First press on your original portrait, then the Curves Adjustment layer. This is the main tool that will help you. I won't go into details of how it works because there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube that would describe the process in detail. But the basic idea is that with this tool, you can change the brightness of your shadows, mid tones and highlight. You can see this graph and it tells you how darker shadows and how bright your highlights are. Darker tones are on the left and brighter ones are on the right side of the graph. So what I'm doing now is making the whole image brighter and making highlights even brighter. So the portrait becomes shiny and cheerful. Also, I'm adding a vibrant adjustment layer to make the portrait more colorful. Same as in Camera Raw Filter. You have Vibrance and Saturation tools that are complementing each other. I usually use both of them. Vibrance helps me when I need to make called towns more colorful. It is more gentle tool compared to saturation. Saturation tool will most likely make warm tons more colorful. Again, just play with it and you'll get a feeling right away. Now, let's compare this result with the one that we've achieved with Camera Raw Filter. I generally prefer camera because it is more precise. However, curves and other adjustment layers will also help you to achieve good results. So I'm living the result that we've achieved with camera and removing the other one.
7. Photoshop: Adjusting and Preparing the Second Exposure: Now let's move on to the second exposure. I'm opening another shot straight from my camera. I think it's a good choice because it meets all the requirements that I have described earlier. The silhouette of the leaves is very pronounced. The background is almost wide. However, the area where the face will be exposed is a bit too bright, so will most likely get unwanted details. But I'll show you how to go around it. So let's begin. I'm pressing Control J to make a duplicate and opening Camera Raw to enhance the image. I'll start by bringing the background as close as possible to absolute white by increasing the value of whites and highlight. I'm also deepening the shadows and blacks so the phase can be exposed. Better. Vibrance and saturation will help to create at your fulfilling. I'm pressing OK to apply the adjustments. Now, let's see before and after. For those of you who don't have camera row, I'll show how a similar result can be achieved by using the Curves Adjustment Layer. By moving the end point of the curve horizontally, you increase the value of your white. It lights up the whole image as if somebody turned on the light. However, be careful not to overdo it. Otherwise you'll get blown out part.
8. Photoshop: Combining Both Exposures: Now I'm going to choose a rectangular marquee tool and select the image. Let's copy and paste it on top of the portrait. I'll flip the image horizontally so it fits the portrait. I'm choosing the Free Transform tool to be able to resize and rotate the second exposure. When resizing the image, how this shift key. This way, there'll be a resize proportionally. Also hold Shift while rotating the image. This way, the rotation angle will snip to such angles as 9045180 degrees. I'll press escape to cancel the transformation because the original angle and scale looks good and after me. And now this is probably the most important part. Select the second exposure layer and apply this green transparency to it. This what will make it all work? This is why we need the white background on both pictures. The white background on the second exposure will stay wide even when combined with the first exposure and vice versa. Just try it for yourself and move around one of the exposures. This way you'll start getting the idea of how it all works. The bright part of both exposures overlay and created this effect. So whatever is absolutely wide on each of the exposures will stay wide when combined with another exposure. And you'll see both wide backgrounds coming together and dissolving both exposures into the final composition. It takes a little playing around with the composition to understand how it all works. It's almost impossible to describe it in words. But after moving your compositions around for a couple of minutes, you'll start getting a feeling for it. I apologize for the flickering is just the way photoshop works on my computer. This is how original and authentic double exposures are created. On YouTube. There are plenty of double exposure tutorials, but they're all using masks for some reason, which dramatically complicated process. However, with a screen transparency, you will achieve better results that will look more realistic and won't have the fake digital filling.
9. Photoshop: Final Adjustments: And now let's make some adjustments on both layers though, make the whole composition look even more appealing. I am applying the Curves Adjustment Layer two, the portrait to make it brighter. I'm adding point in the middle of the curve and dragging it towards the upper left corner. Soon you'll see why we are doing this. I'm pressing on the Layer Mask and inverting it was black. This means that the Hall effect is cancel. I'm gonna choose a wide brush and find over the black mask to apply the facts to whatever I bent. You can control the flow, brushed eyes and feathering of the brush to achieve good results. I'm turning the curves layer on and off so you can see the difference. The effect is applied wherever we paint it white over our black mask. The thing is that when you are using the screen transparency mode to blend two exposures, the brighter parts will be more visible than the darker parts of the other exposure. This is why we brighten up the face to hide all those darker, leafy textures under it. Let's repeat the process for the second exposure. Don't forget to click the little rectangle with an arrow. This way, you will apply the adjustments only to the image that is under the curves layer. Otherwise you will brighten up the whole composition. Now, let's brighten up the leaves layer and invert the layer mask. So we can selectively apply the adjustments to the part over which we will paint white. Always keep Layer Mask selected while doing this. The shortcut for inverting the mask is control I. Done, we are ready to move on to the next step. We will try to hide some imperfections, such as this little white spot in the corner of the mouth. These kinds of elements can be distracting and look like some particles that got stuck to the face or some other unnecessary elements that distort the final impression. However, be careful when doing this because you risk destroying the how authentic Luke and creating the fake digital filling. In the beginning, I was not applying this technique because I wanted the whole process to be as close as possible to the original film process that was done in camera. So you also can do it the same way. However, you will need to be quite skillful. Two, should both exposures the right way that will not require additional adjustments. So choose the second exposure and it's Layer Mask. Now paint black over it and you'll see that the first exposure appears. I'm adjusting the size of the brush by pressing square brackets multiple times and painting over the small details of the second exposure so they disappear and the first exposure appears instead. You can also increase the brush and make them bigger parts of the face, such as eyes, more pronounced. Also attempting to make these bride leaves less visible by applying this same technique. That's where the things can go wrong and I'm being extra careful. Let me show you before and after by holding Shift and clicking on the layer mask. Let's do the same for the first exposure. This way will remove unnecessary elements from the first exposure and make the leaves more visible. Just to remember to make very slight adjustments to maintain their holistic look. You can achieve this by decreasing the flow of your brush. Now I'm going to create an additional curves layer above all the layers. This will be a master curves layer that will apply to all the layers below it. This way I can make final contrast and brightness adjustments. And let's add vibrance layer to increase the saturation of the composition a little. Now some parts are overly saturated and I will paint black over the Layer Mask to desaturate them slightly. We are almost done. Time to crop the composition. Select the crop tool. Looks like a square format would be the best for this portrait. I'm pressing Enter and we are done. This is the final result. Looks good. I'm going to save it as JPEG file, so it will be ready for publishing online or even printing. Here we go. This is how double exposures are created. Now you are ready to experiment on your own.
10. Student Project & Conclusion: Time for the student's project task. Create one or more double exposures by combining two images. Download them by clicking on the link that can be found below this video. There are ten portraits and ten photos of plants. First, try several combinations and choose the best one. Then start applying adjustments to your composition, as I've described in this course. Don't forget to share your results in the student's projects section of this course. I'll be very interested to see your results and I'll comment on each of them and give my recommendations. If in the beginning of the class you were confident enough and chose to create a unique combination right away, then just go ahead and share your results in the student's project section. If you enjoyed this course and found it interesting, then like it and review also in the common section, tell me what else you would want to learn about photography in general, or something specific to the double exposure technique. I'll read every single comment and we'll gladly give my advice. If you'll ask me questions, your comments and reviews will really helped me reach a larger audience. And this will inspire me to create new classes and share more creative skills. You also don't forget to follow me here, not to miss new courses. Follow me on Instagram. I'm traveling the world for more than ten years and sharing the highlights along the way. So join our community. Stay inspired and curious. Keep creating.
Victor Tondee, Visual Artist
