Multiple Exposures - 1986 Article

I first wrote about the technique of creating images using multiple exposures around twenty-five years ago.  The article was first published in the 2nd issue of the Canadian Nature and Outdoor Photography Magazine. The technique took off and is now used by photographers around the world, some photographers even put their own “spin” on it too. If you are a Canadian and wondering why you haven’t seen this magazine lately (or ever), well unfortunately the magazine didn’t fare as well as the technique did!

If you know something about multiple exposures you are probably looking at the cover image and saying “That’s not a multiple exposure”. You’re right, I always thought it was rather strange that they didn’t use a multiple exposure for the cover shot, instead they went with a slow shutter speed camera movement motion blur.  However, the other 3 photos accompanying the article were actual multiple exposures. 

If by chance you still shoot film the “How-To” is here . BTW – Shooting multiples is far easier using a digital camera compared to shooting them with film. If you own a high end Nikon camera it is extremely simple. Go into the shooting menu and set up multiple exposures to 10 with auto gain “ON” and shoot the 10 shots – wait a few seconds and the camera will create a multiple exposure image. As far as I know no other camera manufacturer makes a camera that is capable of taking multiple exposures. Don’t dispair if your camera can’t take multiple exposures, they are quite simple to create in Photoshop by using layers.

Multiple Exposures

This past weekend I taught a Photo Impressionist Techniques Workshop, During this day long course we covered many different techniques, including how to create multiple exposures using Photoshop.  Suellen, who was one of the participant’s on this workshop has posted a few of her (incredible) images here.

Ottawa Impressionist Workshop

Impressionist Photography Workshop

Another day-long Photo Impressionist Workshop is scheduled for Saturday Oct 8th. Right now there is only one space available, email to register.

My image of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia has just been published in the premiere issue of CANADIAN MAGAZINES CANADIENS . Here’s the buzz for this new magazine  about Canada’s thriving periodical industry. It is great to be a part of this new magazine!

*(The strange colour in the centre is from the scanning of the magazine – you can see the original here)

Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland

 When I was 8 years old I collected rocks, bugs, snakes, tadpoles, coins, stamps and also brought home the occasional stray dog.  Nowadays I don’t have any of those “hobbies”  but I guess I still do collect things. I have a huge collection of photographs from my travels around the world, of cities, landscapes and wildlife. I guess I still am that little boy at heart.

When I was 8,  I never dreamed that I would become a photographer let alone that I picture I would take would become a Canadian Postage stamp.  This stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of Terra Nova National Park in Newfoundland is 2nd of my pictures to be used by Canada Post on a stamp.

Do you like collecting photos?  Well, to help you improve your collection, my friend Younes Bounhar and I have teamed up to conduct a couple of photography workshops in Ottawa this summer. Please visit our workshop page to learn more.

National Geographic France Calendar

Six of my photographs are being used this year in different National Geographic calendars. Including this one from Dinan, France which is one of the medieval towns in Brittany that we be photographing on this year’s France Workshop.

In 1991 the  Royal Family; Prince Charles and Princess Diana with Princes William and Harry visited Ottawa. For the occasion the Canadian government had contacted me and asked me to print the above photograph of the Douglas Fir Trees in Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  The picture was presented to Princess Diana, however I didn’t have the opportunity to meet any of the Royal Family at the time.  But – perhaps there might be a wedding invitation in the mail!

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

One of my photos from Peggy’s Cove has been used on the cover of Fodor’s Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada guide book. Over the years I have spent so much time out East, teaching workshops and on photo tours that a lot of people thought that I was from the Maritimes. It’s kind of funny because I’ve actually spent more time in Southern Africa and no one has ever asked me if I was South African. Maybe it’s my lack of a South African accent that’s the give away!

Recently while browsing the web I’ve found several different photographs of mine being used as avatars. And I definitely know that these haven’t been licensed (paid for). So I decided to do a search for one photograph in particular, the star fish on the beach, using TinEye. It came up with over 75 results of where this picture was being used on the web, and not one was a licensed usage. I’ve posted 4 of them below. Now, it’s very flattering that people love my pictures so much and would want to use them, but it would also be nice if they paid for them as well.

I’m quite sure that most of these people don’t realize that they’re breaking the law with copyright infringement by using these pictures and that they can be invoiced/sued for the usage.  Just because you find something on the web, that doesn’t give you permission or license to use it as you see fit, it’s not free! This isn’t anything new in the world of copyright, if you’re interested in finding out more legal information a good web site is Photo Attorney by Carolyn E. Wright.

Now Goggle has just made it easier and faster for people to steal photos with OffiSync 2.0 which is a plug-in for Microsoft Office. If you have any photos on the web and particularly if you make your living from photography, I would strongly suggest that you make sure that they are copyrighted in the IPTC Description data field and I would also put a visible copyright or your name on the image. In the past I’ve put my name on only a few photos, thinking that it distracts from the picture. Well from this date forward all of the images that I post will have my name visibily on them and then I’ll start to work my way back through the rest of them.

Every month on my sales statement from the stock agency that represents me, there is at least one invoice to a company that has had an unauthorized use of a photograph. There was one case where a photographic supplier had lifted my entire article, text and photos on photographing fireworks, without asking permission or even giving me a credit line. They PAID for that!

Before we head out on any trip there’s a considerable amount of time spent in researching and planning the itinerary of that trip. As a stock photographer, the first and also the most important decision is where to go? I have a few favourite places in the world that I’ve visited several times over the years and also some others that I’d like to return to. But if I keep going back to the same locations over and over again, I’ll end up with a fantastic (huge) collection of photos from that place, but then on the other hand that will also definitely limit my sales to only those locations. Since I’m self funding all of these trips, I have to think about the potential financial returns from the photographs that I’ll take on any trip and whether it’s worthwhile to invest my time and money on that trip. To date I’ve chosen wisely, every trip has more than paid for itself.

Once we’ve decided on a location, my work is pretty well done at least until we start packing for the trip and I’ll hear are your cameras packed yet? However up until that time Valerie will have spent endless hours in researching the trip. She uses the Internet (who doesn’t) but I mean she really uses it, she has travel magazine subscriptions and she also buys travel guide books. The funny thing about all of this, is that usually on the next edition of those guide books one of my pictures is being used on the cover, as in the 4 covers above.

Right now I’m at home in Ottawa trying to make some headway on the backlog of pictures I’ve taken over the last couple of years. While I’m doing that, Val is doing some preliminary research for potential trips to either Brazil/Argentina, Egypt/Jordan or Indochina. I’m not sure which one of these we’ll go on, hopefully we’ll get to all of them some day.

Last year I wrote several articles on Impressionist Photography for the British Magazine “Digital Photographer”.  From that series, I’ve just posted a tutorial on how to create an Orton using Photoshop. Click Here for the instructional.