Advanced Photoshop:Creative Use of Layers

N. Leonard Segall

April 6th, 2010

Sarnia Photographic Club

I am an analogue guy

• I prefer a clock with a dial and hands

– so I can say a quarter to eight rather than 7:45

• I was dragged kicking and screaming:

– from vinyl records to compact discs for music

– from colour slide film to digital capture photography

Multiple Exposures and Montages

• This presentation explains how to digitally replicate techniques that I first learned using film:

– Multiple exposures

• Two or more photographs made on the same piece of film without advancing it

– Montages

• A sandwich of two or more slides in the same mount

Photo Impressionism

• Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image

– by Freeman Patterson and André Gallant

– some of the material is taught at their week long workshops in New Brunswick

Multiple Exposures

Multiple Exposures

• A favourite technique of Freeman Patterson’s

• His formula on film is:– under expose by 1 stop for 2 exposures

– under expose by 2 stops for 4 exposures

– under expose by 3 stops for 9 exposures

– under expose by 4 stops for 16 exposures

• Each successive photograph on the same frame builds up the final image to the correct exposure

Multiple Exposures

• On digital capture:

– Take multiple photographs exposed normally, as many frames as you think you will use

– The effective limit for multiple exposures in Photoshop is 12 (due to rounding error)

– (some Nikon cameras will do in camera multiple-exposures and do not need Photoshop)

Multiple Exposures

• Open all of the photographs in Photoshop

• Layer all of the photographs together

• Mouse instructions– View, Arrange, Tile

– Use the move tool

– Shift-click and drag the second image on top of the first (Shift-click ensures perfect alignment)

– Close the photo just used (to keep from using it twice)

– Repeat for all of the other images

Multiple Exposures

• Keyboard shortcut instructions– Click on the second image

– Ctrl-A to select all

– Ctrl-C to copy

– Click on the first image

– Ctrl-V to paste

– Close the image just used (to keep from using it twice)

– Repeat for all of the other images

Multiple Exposures

• Set the opacity for each successive photograph to:

– 100 for the base layer

– 50 for the second layer

– 33 for the third layer

– (100/n) for the nth layer

– the sequence is 100, 50, 33, 25, 20, 17, 14, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8

• This effectively averages all of the images together

• Thanks to Sandi Spaulding for this explanation

Multiple Exposures – Hand Held

Multiple Exposures – Hand Held

Multiple Exposures – Zoom

Multiple Exposures – Zoom

Multiple Exposures – Tilt

Multiple Exposures – Tilt

Multiple Exposures – Zoom and Tilt

Multiple Exposures – Zoom and Tilt

Multiple Exposures

• When zooming, it is best to zoom in

– when zooming out, unexpected intrusions can creep in to the frame

• When tilting, it is best to run though the photo first

– again to keep unexpected items from creeping in to the edge of the frame

Multiple Exposures

• This technique creates an image where contrast is subdued, detail is lost and texture is enhanced

• Dark shadows are lightened as they overlap with adjacent lighter areas in the photograph

• It can be helpful to convey a beautiful scene where a straight photograph might be marred by detail or might not appropriately convey your feelings

Double Exposure

• In his first book, “Photography for the Joy of It”, Freeman Patterson describes a special double exposure technique for manual cameras:

• Shoot a series of full moon photographs on a carefully loaded roll of film noting the position of the moon on each frame (expose as for daylight, the moon is sunlit)

• Reload the film in exactly the same way and shoot a series of normally exposed landscape photographs composing to complement the moon on each frame

Double Exposure

• The dark sky makes no impression on the film; only the moon is captured

• The second exposure captures an image normally, but the moon is bright so it appears in the final image

• Unlike a normal double exposure where each capture would be underexposed by 1 stop, both captures are taken at normal exposure

Double Exposure

• Digital Equivalent:– Make a photograph of the full moon on a clear night

• expose for daylight since the moon is sunlit

– Take a landscape photograph that is crying out for a full moon• make the moon photograph a second layer

• set the moon layer blending option to “screen” and reduce the opacity as appropriate (the brightness of the moon should not exceed what would realistically be expected)

• using the move tool position the full moon

• “screen” blending mode makes the black sky of the moon photo invisible

Double Exposure

Double Exposure

Double Exposure

Montages

• Made by sandwiching two to four slides together in the same mount

• Extensively explored by André Gallant

– Dreamscape Montages or Ortons

– Composite Montages

– Mirror Montages

Montages

• When sandwiching slides together, the result is darker than either original slide because the light has to travel through both

• On film, this requires the opposite of multiple exposures:

– each photograph used in a montage must be over-exposed

Dreamscape Montages

Dreamscape Montages

• On film:• Use the long end of your zoom lens• Make a photograph in focus two stops over-exposed• Make a second photograph slightly out of focus with

the aperture wide open (moving the focus closer so the image gets larger), and one stop over-exposed

• Sandwich the two images together in a slide mount• The in focus image should be have the emulsion side

out for better scanning

Dreamscape Montages

• The in focus image two stops overexposed gives the image its structure – its lines

• The out of focus image one stop overexposed gives the image its rich colour

• The larger size of the out of focus image gives a feeling of colouring outside the lines

Dreamscape Montages

• Digital technique:– Make one photograph in focus exposed normally

– Make a duplicate layer

– Use a gaussian blur to throw the duplicate out of focus

– Increase the pixel size of the duplicate by 2 %

– Set the blending mode of the new layer to “Multiply”

– Multiply darkens (like a slide sandwich) so add curves or other adjustment layers to bring up the tonality

– I prefer to place the curve above the background image

Dreamscape Montages

Dreamscape Montages

Multiple Exposure vs Montage

• Multiple exposures soften shadows by building up layers using opacity

• Montages deepen shadows through the use of “Multiply” layer blending

• Experience with these techniques, and your response to a scene will determine if one or the other might help your interpretation

Composite Montages

• On film:

• Make two photographs, both one to one and a half stops over-exposed

• Sandwich them together in a slide mount

• This is particularly useful for adding texture to a photograph

• (The texture slide should be two or more stops overexposed so that it does not alter the colour)

Composite Montages

• Digitally:

• Make two photographs correctly exposed

• Open both photographs in Photoshop

• Copy the one photo on to the other as a new layer

• Set the layer blending properties to “multiply”

• Add curves or other adjustment layers as desired

Composite Montages

Composite Montages

Composite Montages

Composite Montages - Texture

Composite Montages - Texture

Composite Montages - Texture

Composite Montages - Texture

• Textures are very popular on flickr

• There are web sites where you can download textures

• Wherever you go, it can be a good idea to make photographs that can later be used for textures:

– pebbles or sand on a beach, ripples on water

– cracked paint on a wall, grasses in a meadow

• Then you will have your own library of textures that are meaningful to you

Mirror Montages

Mirror Montages

Mirror Montages

Multiple Exposures and Montages

• The techniques shown in this presentation are all digital equivalents of techniques originated using slide film

• As with slide film, the photographer needs to pre-visualize the final result when composing photographs

Multiple Exposures and Montages

• In the digital world there is more flexibility because normal exposure is used when making the initial photographs

• The creative use of layers allows the photographer to combine photographs after the fact in creative ways

• Have fun exploring!