How to Create a Double Exposure in Photoshop

Mark Duffy is an Irish photographer, graphic designer, and drummer with a shaved head and a glorious beard. He has a pretty slick new YouTube channel where he intends to teach people how he goes about editing his photos using Photoshop and Lightroom. In this video Duffy teaches us how to create double exposures in Photoshop.

I know how to make double exposures in Photoshop, as do most Photoshop enthusiasts. I might not be good at them, but that just means I need to practice (there, that's my self-kindness done for the day). That's not to say that you won't learn something different here because even though we know how to do certain things with these magical programs, everyone has their own methods that they pick up along the way. For me personally, it's refreshing to hear an Irish accent presenting a photo editing tutorial, and this guy comes from County Louth, an area with an accent that other Irish people find difficult to understand. Thankfully though, not only is Duffy easy to understand, but his presentation style is easygoing and oftentimes humorous.

In the video, Duffy goes through everything you need to do to create a double exposure by using your own images, including non-destructive editing, smart objects, layer masks, and curves adjustments to make your double exposure pop.

Mike O'Leary's picture

Mike is a landscape and commercial photographer from, Co. Kerry, Ireland. In his photographic work, Mike tries to avoid conveying his sense of existential dread, while at the same time writing about his sense of existential dread. The last time he was in New York he was mugged, and he insists on telling that to every person he meets.

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5 Comments

Interesting and informative. I had a lucky double exposure. I had bought a used Canon New F-1 and brought it into work. A coworker, Emily, is also a hobbyist photographer. I handed the camera to her to look at using a backhand pass and heard the shutter fire. That weekend, I went to take some photos of the lake. When I got the film and scans back, Emily appeared to be rising from the lake.

Super cool serendipity, Ralph. You still have the photo?

Yes. For my film since 2011, I've been having scans made while developing.

I'd love to start using film again, it's just the cost that's keeping me from diving back in. It's how I started taking photos but I'd love to apply the knowledge that I've gained since then. This would definitely be a technique that I'd try out.