One-Minute Reads about Film Photography

Hand-held Double Exposure Creates Artistic Motion

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This is a fun image created with a double exposure, but there is another few tricks involved beyond just doing an additional exposure. After coming up the sidewalk in Chicago to Miller’s Pub, I knew this needed to be a picture, so I stopped and contemplated for a short while, observing the scene: The pedestrian foot traffic, and the passing cars, trucks, and busses with their lights on, and of course the neon sign.

With dusk setting in, it was a perfect opportunity to capture some interesting light, especially with the neon. I set out on a plan then to create a unique image that shows both light, and movement.

First Exposure: I took an incident light reading on the sidewalk area and then planned to underexpose by 1 stop. That put me JUST in the range of using a wide open lens and a reasonable shutter speed to keep the initial exposure from blurring. The Miller’s sign, being bright, was of course going to render fine. I waited until a good group of people were walking into the frame (from behind me) and then took the shot.

Second Exposure: Staying in the same spot, I then shifted the focus on the camera to give some offset to the second image, and then with a 1/2 second exposure, starting nearest where I remember the sign being, I did a horizontal and slightly vertical sweep. This shows nicely in the light lines in the bottom 1/3 of the frame, and the Miller’s sign, being blurred, gives the vibe of what your eyesight might be after being in the pub awhile!

So three techniques together built this photo. Double Exposure, Focus Shift, and Motion Sweep.

• gregory gammon / http://www.vinylfye.com