Double triple exposures on a single frame?

[phOtOny teXas]

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There is someone named "tonyynot" who posts on the "Monochrom shots" in the "Other" images section with double negatives shot with a Monochrom. He has posted many images and I believe a follow-up on one of them describes the method he uses.

 

I shoot almost all the time Multiple Exposures on my MM, have also done it on a M8 & M9. It is all done in camera with no post processing.

 

See my RFF or Flickr gallery for examples: I go by the name photony texas

 

I have shared my technique with many and received a lot of negative responses. Maybe just a people/camera forum thing or most don't appreciate my photography, or its a cant be done because I didn't think of it attitude...what ever.

 

Its simple if you think about the B setting on leicas...

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[rafael_macia]

Thanks David,

I have ever used Layers in Photoshop. Not in 10 years of using the program.

But ...

You clear instructions will get me to try.

Photoshop is such a deep program ....

 

Rafael

[Photoskeptic]

I shoot almost all the time Multiple Exposures on my MM, have also done it on a M8 & M9. It is all done in camera with no post processing.

 

See my RFF or Flickr gallery for examples: I go by the name photony texas

 

I have shared my technique with many and received a lot of negative responses. Maybe just a people/camera forum thing or most don't appreciate my photography, or its a cant be done because I didn't think of it attitude...what ever.

 

Its simple if you think about the B setting on leicas...

 

Thanks for responding, Tony. I actually think your images are very well thought out and original. For sure they are different but maybe it is time some pre-conceived ideas of what is rf photography are challenged.

[marcg]

I shoot almost all the time Multiple Exposures on my MM, have also done it on a M8 & M9. It is all done in camera with no post processing.

 

See my RFF or Flickr gallery for examples: I go by the name photony texas

 

I have shared my technique with many and received a lot of negative responses. Maybe just a people/camera forum thing or most don't appreciate my photography, or its a cant be done because I didn't think of it attitude...what ever.

 

Its simple if you think about the B setting on leicas...

 

I saw the image which you posted in the MM thread. I can see how people might not like them but I don't see how anyone can object to the technique or the principle. People who don't like the result could always use the technique to achieve images which they did like.

 

Anyway, could you point me to any discussion which you have been involved with where you discuss your workflow for these.

I've seen your Flickr pages. I don't like all of the images but I like some of them - and the effect of all of them is striking.

[rafael_macia]

I would also like to understand your workflow, Tony.

You images are original for sure.

You mentioned in your post using the "B" shutter setting ?

 

Hope to hear.

 

Rafael

[marcg]

I suppose that it involved putting the lens cap back on in mid-exposure and then taking it off again for the next one - but I would really like to know more detail.

Ta

[omalat]

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The M9 is only the second camera I have ever owned which can't do multiple exposures. The first was the M8! It was possible on all film cameras. Also possible on a digital Nikon slr I once had. I find it annoying that I am not allowed to make multiple exposures in camera. There are many creative reasons for wanting to double/multiple expose apart from your reasons and HDR. I feel it is another case of the camera's design being dictated by people who aren't photographers. Of course a similar effect can be constructed on the computer in post production but that takes the spontaneity out of the process. It is a shame.

 

My M9 is a beautiful tool which gives me pleasure daily. (I haven't been seduced by a 240.) The only two things which frustrate me are this inability to multiple expose and the on off switch which tends to get knocked into the off position, or worse still into self timer!

 

If you do find a way of doing multiples in camera, please share.

[ChrisPS]

It can be done just as you wish. That is, using the same technique adopted when using film but it needs great care and careful planning - although the principle is very straightforward. There isn't the full flexibility that you get with a film camera, though, because you can't adjust the aperture once exposures have been started but you may be able to make broad adjustments to the effective shutter speed.

 

With a fully manual film based camera such as a monorail (mine is a Linhof) the film can be advanced, aperture adjusted and set, as can the shutter, all as completely separate elements. So without advancing the film, any number or exposures can be made, each with a different aperture and shutter speed.

 

You need a digital camera on which the shutter can be locked open - I don't know if that is possible on your camera (it can be done on my MP using a lockable cable release and on my Canon 1Ds with a separate timer). You will also need a means of covering/uncovering the lens, a spot meter and, of course, a very sturdy tripod.

 

For a basic solution: determine the overall aperture/shutter speed suitable for your number of exposures then, keeping the two in sync. determine the shutter speed you think can achieve by manually covering/uncovering the lens. For this purpose I have used a simple box shape, formed out of thin black card, that can be 'hung' over the lens (design it so that it can be removed/replaced easily). With practice you will get a result.

 

I photograph interiors and, going back to film for a moment, have frequently made one/two exposure(s) with the lights off and a further with the lights on - leaving the aperture the same but changing the shutter speed for each (just as explained above) but of course the shutter speed can be as long as you like and as short as 1/500th. Careful exposure assessment and planning is of course also necessary. On rare occasions I still needed (I'm now retired) this facility to handle un-dimmable lights and detailed reflections when my clients started to demand digital files.

 

For an element of shutter speed control (take a deep breath): It is as the basic solution above but instead of a 'box' you need a Lee type filter holder and more black card cut into a strip such that it can be easily moved up/down in the filter holder but will stay in place if required. The strip must have five areas - from bottom to top these must be 'blank' (fully covering the lens element), a 'hole' (fully uncovering the lens element), another 'blank', a very narrow slit (this is your rough shutter speed control) and another blank. Determine the required exposures, set shutter/aperture to give achievable exposure 'times', place the bottom 'blank' in front of the lens and lock open the shutter. The rest, I think, is obvious.

 

It's very Heath Robinson but it can sometimes get you a better result than blending layers.

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OTOH, you could disassemble the lens of an old camera (a folder, for instance) and just use the compur shutter it contains.

 

You can hold open the focal plane shutter of a Leica M for something like a minute. However, while film does not undergo any changes at all between the exposures, the sensor most certainly will. It will heat up and add noise to your image which will grow with the total time between the opening and closing of the focal plane shutter. I don't know what the camera's processor will do to an image with very long apparent exposure time.