Controlling Compositions with Multiple Exposures
| One of the great things about digital capture is the way it lets you shoot and react quickly to a scene. When you combine this feature with the ability to create and combine multiple exposures seamlessly, you have a powerful process for creating and controlling a composition. The basic approach for taking multiple-exposure images is to set up the camera on a tripod to keep it stationary, and shoot multiple images without moving the camera position. By varying the exposure, lighting, or compositional vehicles, you can create and combine multiple versions of the same scene, with much greater control. The Basic ApproachAfter setting up the tripod and framing the scene, I shot Figure
I opened both images in Photoshop, copied and pasted the files into one master file, and aligned the two layers. I added a mask to the top layer by clicking the Mask button in the Layers palette. I painted in the mask with a brush set to a black or white foreground color to reveal the glow of the bottles. The result of blending these two images is shown in Figure
Options and VariablesThis multiple-exposure approach can be applied in a number of ways. The example of the bottles shows an outdoor candid setup, which allows you to control focus and exposure. You could also shoot a sunset, exposing for the foreground area first, waiting with the camera in place, and exposing the saturated sky areas later as they intensify. In Figure
I brought each image into Photoshop as a separate layer. Because the images were shot on a tripod, I didn't have to make any adjustments to align the layers, I simply copied and pasted them into the composite image. I added a layer mask to each image and revealed or concealed the various figures using a transparent mask. Painting in Shadows and LightOne of the most dramatic applications for using multiple exposures is in the studio. In Figure
With the camera set up, I took a series of shots from the same vantage point, using a cable release and tripod. After exposing for the foreground area, I moved the lights to the front to light the rectangular copper plate behind the bowl and changed the exposure to bring out the detail there. I moved the lights again to backlight the vase, and shot another exposure to bring out the details in the glass. Finally, I lit the candles and shot two exposures, one to clearly delineate the flames, and another to capture the glow coming off the candles. I opened each image in Photoshop, selected it, and copied each into a single file as multiple layers. I added a layer mask to each layer by clicking the Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. In some cases where I only wanted to add a small section of the layer, I added a mask that concealed the entire layer by holding down the Option key (Alt in Windows) as I clicked the Mask icon. This action generates a mask filled with black, which conceals the entire layer. This makes it easy to select a brush with white as the foreground color to paint in nothing but the desired area. Using this approach, I blended the candle flames, candles, copper plate, and vase areas together with masks, and I added a Curves adjustment layer to even out the warm yellow light effect I was after. I set the Curves options to
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to expose for the background and Figure 
to bring out some glow in the bottles.
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, I set up my camera in Siena's main square and captured several images, capturing people walking through different areas of the square.
, my intention was to create a soft, warm image that would support the overall ambiance of the lit candles.
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