Photo #1 - Double exposure of a man in silhouette and a cloudy sky at sunset.
After writing my post “D300 Double Exposure” a couple of weeks ago, I’ve had several D300 owners contact me wanting to know how to make them. I decided since there was so much interest in this subject, I should write an article on “How to make multiple exposures with a Nikon D300.”
Making multiple exposures with the Nikon D300 is really quite simple. But, if you are like me, it’s a lot easier to be shown or guided by someone, than it is reading the camera manual.
Choosing a subject
First, choose a subject you want to practice on. Don’t be too particular about the subject at first. Just practice and have fun. You will learn what works and what doesn’t. Also, there really isn’t really a right or wrong way to do it. If it pleases you in the end, that’s all that really matters.
Photo #2 - Double exposure of a couple.
I have found that people make great subjects for multiple exposures. There are a lot of different ways you can shoot multiple exposures of people.
Photo #3 - Double exposure of a Daffodil Plant. In the 1st photo, I focused on the first flower. Then, the wind came up and I took the 2nd photo.
Flowers also work really well and have unlimited possibilities. You are really only limited by your imagination.
Photo #4 - Triple exposure of a Narcissus Plant.
Setting your Nikon D300 for multiple exposures
- On the back of your camera, press the menu button at the upper left.
- Select the shooting menu. Press right arrow on the multi selector button, to access the shooting menu.
- Press the down arrow, until multiple exposure is highlighted.
- Press right arrow and highlight number of shots. I recommend starting with 2 (the default), which gives you a double exposure.
- Press the right arrow again and the number of shots will be highlighted. To change the number of shots, press the up or down button until the number you want is selected. Then, press the OK button.
- Highlight auto gain and press the right arrow. Highlight either ON or OFF and press OK. Normally, you will want to leave the auto gain set to ON. This will automatically adjust the gain for multiple exposures. However, if your subject has a dark background, or you want to adjust the exposure manually, then set the auto gain to OFF.
- Highlight done and press OK.
You are now ready to take your first shot. After taking your first shot, look in the monitor to see what you got. Then, frame and take your next shot. Note: After the first exposure is taken, if no operations are performed for 30 seconds, the camera will end the multiple exposure mode.
Now, when you want to take another photo with the same amount of exposures, all you have to do is to return to the shooting menu, press the right arrow 2 times and your ready to take another multiple exposure.
Other Tips
Keep in mind that simple backgrounds work best. Also, the use of a tripod would make creating multiple exposures easier in some cases. However, I did not use one for any of these photos.
How you can participate
There are so many different ways to create a multiple exposure. Do you have any ideas you would like to share with the readers of this Photo Blog? Awesome! Feel free to add them in the comments section below.
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Multiple exposure is a cool technique. You seem to be having fun with it and the results are amazing Sherri.
Thomas – they are a ton of fun and thank you for your feedback!
Hi.
. I was wondering if you knew how to produce a M.E. photo using two (or more) separate images in Photoshop? Great BLog!
M.E. are so much fun as I used to do them when I shot with film. I haven’t had the opportunity to do them with digital due to my camera not having that function.
Hi Michele – Thanks for stopping by and leaving your wonderful comment. I used to make multiple exposures too, back when I shot film. It was a lot harder than it is with a D300.
I haven’t tried making them in Photoshop yet, but that is on my list of things to do. I have read over the instructions and I don’t think it’s that hard. Will try one of these days!
Thanks! Never gotten around to trying it, but I remember hacking it on my old Nikon F-301 and film.. Mark Rebilas has a few triple exposures (baseball pitcher) at the end of this blog, worth a look: http://markjrebilas.com/blog/2009/04/stephen-strasburgbaseball103mph/
You are very welcome Christian! I encourage you to give it a try. Thanks for the link and I will definitely check it out.
Hi,, I tried double exposure for the first time ,using your blog. I finally got it to work, and love my first attempts at it. I Have D90, and seemed to find that with my lens (perhaps because of the type of lens?) I wasn’t able to use “Auto”, and had to go to one of either P,A,M, or S mode. Would I be correct in saying that? No problemo if I don’t find out right away. I will try using another lens in Auto and trying to do double exposure with that lens. When trying Auto today, it wouldn’t let me to set Exposure, until I tried the other modes. Thanks GR
Hi Gerard – that’s great that you have had some success making multiple exposures. I don’t know anything about the D90, but I would think it operates similar to my D300. I don’t have any limitations as to what mode I can use to create multiple exposures. I usually shoot in Shutter Priority and these multiple exposures were shot that way. You don’t need to set the exposure. The camera does it for you, if you follow these instructions. By the way, what lens are you using?
The lens that I have only tried the double exposure with is a nikon af-s micro nikkor 105mm 1:2.8G ED, maybe that is why I couldn’t do it Auto? Will try some more this weekend when I have time, and then I will try with my supposed regular lens, 24-120 AF-S. I am fairly new at DSLR. A friend, who is away right now, convinced me to get the 105mm, so I will have to learn the intricacies of this “fixed ” lens. By the way,, I also have Photoshop cs3. I hear that you can do double/triple exposure (I presume from existing photos). Looked the subject up last night, and tried to some degree to do the same thing, but failed . Have you used PS uniquely at any time to do doubles/triples without using your camera to do it? Do you know of a link or site that might show me how to try this on PS. , I am fairly nimble on computers , but certainly haven’t enough experience on PS to figure it out myself.
Ok,, just tried both lens in Auto,, neither lens will let me do it in Auto. Next question. Again from a Newbie perspective, I saw someone do a double exposure of a persons face, shot from two different angles, but somehow, were not overlapping each other, but almost looking at each other, on the same photo. I can’t figure out how NOT to have the two successive photos that I use for double exposure, show like it was one face on another. Hope you get what I mean.
Hi Gerard – I will respond to your last two comments via email. Thanks for your patience and have fun photographing this weekend!
ive tried to use this technique to achieve a result ive commonly seen done. however, I have failed to do so. I am trying to get teh same people in different positions in the same photo, without ghosting. e.g. myself sitting, standing in different spots, someoen dancing around the room, gymnast.. etc.
any help would be appreciated greatly!
thanks for the article!
~SS
Hi Sherri, i would love to know how you solved Gerard’s problem above. I’m also facing the same predicament.
Duko – I’m not totally sure what it is you need help with.
Hi Sherri
I am in the process of shooting multiple exposures, up to 5 from a lighted candle,lit from the side by the main flash, I than extinguish the candle and take a shot from the smoke by means of a small slave flash from behind and below the candle, light the candle again and extinguish again taking another shot with a different colour filter over the slave flash.
I have tried to repeat this using several colours to create a image with 4 different colours smoke but I am running into a problem, the 30 seconds you have between shots is a bit to short to fit in the lighting of the candle, changing the filter and extinguising the candle again and firing the camera.
Any sugestions?
Richard
Hi Richard – thank you for stopping by and leaving your comment. I’m hoping someone else will chime in on this one. I don’t really have any suggestions for you at the moment.
Best of luck,
Sherri
How can I take a multiple exposure and avoid the ghosting effect? I want 3 shots of the same person in different postions.
Also see Joe McNally’s blog from March 31
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2010/03/31/view-from-my-window/
for an incredible multiple exposure shot.
Again, how does one do this without ghosting?
Hi Jim, thank you for your comment & question. I personally haven’t done any multiple exposures without ghosting yet. As to Joe McNally’s wonderful composition, the key is to have a plain dark background, then the ghosting won’t be so apparent. To take the 3-shot multiple exposure of the same person, try putting your person in front of a dark background and do not overlap the subject.
I would love to see the results of your photos. Feel free to add a link to your photos here.
Sherri
Hi Sherri. I have a Nikon D90 that I can make multiple exposure shots with, which has been both creative and fun. However, the D90 only does 3 multiples at a time. How many can you do with the D300? I’m thinking of upgrading, and this is an important point for me. Thanks.
Hi Jillian, thank you for your question. The D300 will do up to 10 shots on one frame. The most I have ever done was 4. Hope this helps!
~Sherri
Thanks a lot Sherri for sharing this wonderful feature, was looking for this technique for a long time, and i ended up reading other forums that its not possible with the D300, and i gave up searching the internet since mostly it leads to the bracketing feature, will try this tomorrow, thanks again for sharing this feature
Rae, I’m glad you found my article. Let me know how it works for you okay?
~Sherri
You did in two minutes what I had problems reading and watching on Nikon DVD or the instruction manual for the camera over two days. Thank you. Nikon should hire you.
WOW – Coachz…that is great to know. I agree that the camera manuals are often very hard to understand. Nikon did you hear that? You should hire me!
Not sure what “generation” D3000 you have, but mine does NOT have a multiple exposure option on the shooting menu. Wonder why? I’ve had the camera since Dec. of ’09.
Hi Bill, Did you mean D300? That is what I own…not a D3000.
~Sherri