The LOST "ART" of Double Exposures: More Ghosts

Did they love their vacations at the old log cabin so much that they haunted it for years to come?



Click on "Double Exposure" in the labels to see more.

More of the LOST "ART" of the Double Exposure

I found a site last night that purported to explain how to create double exposures. It was utter nonsense. It had nothing to do with a real double exposure and was nothing more than explaining how to do layers using photo editing software. Though many of the images were striking, they weren't double exposures. This sits in the craw of old timers like me. Don't use old terminology to explain something you're doing today that has no similar reference point.

Generally a real double exposure was an accident, but not always. Some people did successfully find ways to make film not advance or go back so that they could create a double exposure. They were still at the mercy of the camera and had no idea what they would get until they processed the negative and print.

double exposure  noun      the repeated exposure of a photographic plate or film to light, often producing ghost images.

• the photograph that results from such exposure.

Obviously this is not the same as placing layer after layer of images into one document in Photoshop where you're in control every step of the way.

Before computers you could play in the darkroom with multiple negs and create all sorts of wonderful images. I did it myself and recall an especially odd print of Mick Jagger with a fern sticking out of his nose. Oh to still have that odd print. And no, it wasn't a real photo of Mick. It was a shot I'd taken of an album cover and some tropical ferns in the backyard. I'm sure it was funnier at the time, thanks to the overwhelming smell of developing chemicals, than it would ever be if I saw it today. Best to keep it as a vague memory.

I continue to search for double exposures, but the pickin's now are pretty slim. I believe most people tossed them with disgust when they got their prints.

One of the joys in this category are ghost people. Don't believe in ghosts? Really? What more proof do you need?



This is the happiest group of ghosts I've ever seen. A ghosts day out at the lake. I believe they might have been institutionalized ghosts.

Have some double exposures you'd like to share or links to images? Let me know and I'll include them in this post. It's a category!

Here are a couple links to images I've posted in the past, including yesterdays post:

The LOST "ART" of the Double Exposure
DOUBLE EXPOSURE Rosa and Rodrique
CATEGORY and SUBCATEGORIES GALORE!

Here's a grouping at another site:
House of Mirth

And here are two submitted by online friends:

From Nancy at Nancy's Family History Blog

From Jim at DullToolDimBulb.

The LOST "ART" of the Double Exposure

It's sad to think that the surprise and mystery of double exposures will now be a thing of the past. No more surprises when you take your photos to the drug store for prints; you'll have already seen what you're going to get long before you have prints in hand. And henceforth, images that look like double exposures will simply be someone with Photoshop, or one of it's lesser imitators, using layers. Happenstance won't happen anymore.

I guess this is progress, though I will miss seeing the creations made when errors are in control.

Click on image to see it larger.

One of my favorites in my collection is of a group having a picnic. The double exposure is of the same folks standing on steps which overlays the picnic shot. You can see it in the slideshow to the left in the book Telling Stories.

Have some double exposures you'd like to share or links to images? Let me know and I'll include them in this post. It's a category!

Here are a couple links to images I've posted in the past:

DOUBLE EXPOSURE Rosa and Rodrique
CATEGORY and SUBCATEGORIES GALORE!

Here's a grouping at another site:
House of Mirth

From Nancy at Nancy's Family History Blog

From Jim at DullToolDimBulb.

School DAZZLING!

Click on image to see it larger.

SCHOOL DAZED PRINCESS with Court

No idea what's going on here. Appears to be a queen with her royal court of farmers and farmettes. The shot was most likely taken in Ukiah, California.


Click on image to see it larger.

...SCHOOL DAZED boy

...and more SCHOOL DAZED

More SCHOOL DAZED 1931