How were “same person twice” photos made on film cameras?
Asked 10/9/2024
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In the film era, tourist photographers often made novelty portraits where the same person appears twice in one photo, usually split into left and right halves. How was this done with film cameras before digital editing? Was it done in-camera, in the darkroom, or both? Also, why wouldn’t simply covering half the lens produce the effect?
Originally by phuclv. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
phuclv
1y ago
2 Answers
15
It is called double exposure.
It can be done in different moments in different ways.
I. During the taking of the photo.
- Some cameras have a switch that allows the "cranking" of the shutter button but does not advance the film. This way you could expose again the same frame.
On the big circle is the film advance lever. On the small circle, it is a small nudge, that prevented the advancement of the film but still prepared the mechanism for the next shot when using the main lever. Nikon FM.
- If you simply expose the film with the girl switching places you will have an overexposed image and a ghostly girl in both frames because the background is also exposed, so you need a device to mask two zones. This could be a black cardboard box with a movable window.
- I believe I saw some attachments that you could put in front of your lens, like a lens hood. In fact you can prepare a lens hood for this effect with two barn doors. It could be an interesting DIY project.
The advantage is that, if done right you could send your film to be developed and printed anywhere. It could be done in slide film.
To control the blurriness of the exposures you need to change the distance to the front of the lens, and the aperture. The closer and the wider the opening, the blurrier.
- Remember to use a tripod.
II. When exposing the paper.
- Take two photos using a tripod.
- During the paper exposure, you use the black box with a window and expose the two parts in two different stages. The reason for using a box is the same as controlling the distance of the first case. You have some separation against the paper you have a small transition zone that fades the two photos.
- Develop the paper.
One problem is that you do not have much control on how to align the negative vs the prior exposure. You could mark some reference points before exposing the paper.
It is only done in one copy of the paper. It also means that a lot of people could only make them in a black-and-white copy.
III. Just print two photos and cut and paste
- Use a sharp blade and some glue.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_FM#/media/Archivo:Nikon_FM_(top_view).jpg
Originally by Rafael. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Rafael
1y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
These photos were usually made with a double exposure on the same frame, plus masking.
In-camera: the photographer exposed the frame twice without advancing the film. Many film cameras had a multiple-exposure feature, or a way to cock the shutter while keeping the film on the same frame.
To stop the background and subject from overlapping as a ghosted double image, part of the frame had to be masked for each exposure. The mask was not just a cap touching the lens. If a mask is placed right on the lens, the whole image still reaches the film, just dimmer. But if the mask is held some distance in front of the lens, it appears as a blurred dark area that blocks part of the frame. A simple black card or box mask with a movable opening could do this.
It could also be done later in the darkroom by masking during printing, using masks made from the negative to expose only selected parts of the print.
So the classic effect was commonly done either by two masked exposures on one negative, or by masking during enlargement/printing.
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