double exposures on film?

[thebeginning]

explain.

 

[lilithvalentine]

I'm not sure whether you're asking what the term means or how to do it so i'll give it a shot at explaining both.

Double exposure is as the name suggests - exposing the negative in the same place twice - getting two pictures in the one frame.

I only ever done this once and it was purely by accident. I took a picture of my cousin, then gave her the camera to take a picture of me - she didn't fully wind it onto the next frame - and we ended up our picture's overlapping. When I get to use the other computer that has the scanner attached i'll post if on here if you're interested.

 

[ksmattfish]

Most modern cameras keep you from double exposing. Some cameras have a switch you can flip that allows you to cock the shutter without advancing the film.

You can get a similar effect by sandwiching negs in an enlarger.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

If you want to multiple expose on purpose:
Exposure is calculated by dividing the actual exposure by the number of multiples you want. Say you are going to do 4 then you divide the exposure your meter gives by 4. Eg: 1/30 @ f8 becomes 4x 1/125 @ f8.
You need a camera that allows you to recock the shutter without moving the film. It CAN be done on 35mm but is very tricky. MF cameras that have the shutter in the lens are ideal, as is LF.
The same calculation as above is done for flash at night or in the studio. Either reduce the flash power or increase the aperture as appropriate. Unless you are highlighting just small areas in which case you make no adjustment.
In the early 80's we went through a fad of multiple exposure - but doing it in the studio with LF we actually made composites by this method. We would put mattes inside the camera to mask off portions to build up pictures. The simplest one was a straight matte across the film so the top half was exposed, then reverse the matte to expose the other half.
Using this method I could produce a shot of a wine glass, the stem turning into a stream of sand. On the neg. No retouching. And you couldn't see the joins.
It was just our way of showing off our technical prowess. And PS hadn't been invented.
Micky Moulton was the very best (he taught us this technique). He did shots that were 20 seperate exposures on one neg.
Was very time consuming though as everything had to match up perfectly. Could take a whole week of 18 hour days to get it right.
If anyone wants the full technical detail of this method, just ask.

 

[thebeginning]

that is crazy, and awesome.

do you know if an f3 can do it?

 

[Rob]

Yes it can, next to the winder crank on the top right hand corner of the camera there's a small lever which stops the film being wound. Works with MD-4 as well.

The F3 is used a lot for that kind of thing and it has other features like mirror lock-up which you may find useful.

R

 

[thebeginning]

yes i knew about the mirror lock up. havent used it much...dont have a motor winder, so i dont do super fast exposure sets.

so that is what that lever thing is for! i was wondering about that. so you just pull it out from it's normal position after the first film wind or before?

 

[panocho]

after the first shot. Then you pull the "lever thing" and wind. By winding after having pulled that, your shutter will be prepared to shot again but the film will not have moved.
This can be a funny process to obtain great or just silly results. But funny, anyway!

 

[thebeginning]

thanks!