Double Exposure – Take 2

Of course one of the great things about digital is that it is frequently easier and cheaper to experiment than it is with film. Unlike general photography where it is usually better to learn with film and then transition to digital - if you must, this is one instance where I believe it may in fact be easier to learn with digital and then transition back to film.

I wanted to make double exposures for a long time but never could come up with an idea that appealed to me. Some would say I just am not creative enough and they might be right. Much of my photographic time and energy goes into trying to accurately record interesting and unique “compositions” without any desire or attempt to “doctor” them. I generally find enough “real life” compositions that I don’t often look for anything else.

That said, I have been intrigued by the whole idea of double exposures for years. The one above is a simple yet interesting (to me anyway) shot of my son Noah, arm wrestling with himself. Yeah, I know some of you are saying, “yep, not very creative,” but I like it.

The only thing that would be more enigmatic would be if I did a self-portrait of me arm wrestling with myself but that would also be narcissistic and I would have to resolve the inner conflict of who would win!

My older son Ian then got into the act with a shot of him arguing with himself. This one was complete with wardrobe changes and all! Of course we all laughed because it kind of looks like he’s finger wrestling with himself.

The Pentax K-01 is a very “intelligent” camera ideally set up for such shots having a “double exposure mode” as it were. I explained this in some detail in my last blog post. You simply use the menu to tell it you want to do a double exposure and it takes care of the rest, even adjusting the exposures appropriately. I did learn that if I used the EV adjustment to over-ride the camera and slightly underexpose the frames it yielded a better result than the camera did on its own.

Now you know I am a film guy - right?  But seriously, there are times when these new digital cameras are awesome. Of course, my Pentax ZX-7 has essentially the same capability as the digital K-01. Now that I kind of understand the whole double exposure thing, my next challenge will be to duplicate my results with film. That may end up being pretty easy with the ZX-7. Considering some of the features available for film users through the late great APS systems who knows what tricks film cameras might be doing today if the industry hadn’t abandoned film in favor of digital.