How to create a double exposure photograph

Double Exposure

What is double exposure? –

Double exposure is the effect of overlapping two photographs and making them one. It is generally created with a person or animal’s headshot and some sort of landscape or close up image of a plant. The double exposure effect makes the photograph seem misty as it fades out and is generally a black and white colour scheme, with the sometimes appearance of colour. 

How to edit a double exposure photograph -

To create a double exposure, you first want to start with finding the right images, you want to use images that are simple and not too complicates. For the headshot you want an image that doesn’t have a whole lot of detail in the actual head or background. For the landscape you want something that is simple and matches the aesthetic of the headshot, trees are a good option.

The next thing you want to do is cut out the headshot from the background. To do this you use the quick selection brush to select the headshot and use the alt key to deselect areas that you have gone over. Click on the refine edge option at the top of the screen then select smart radius and increase the radius to 2-4 pixels. As an option, you can go through the hair again to make it more exact, but it is not needed. Next make sure the new layer and layer mark boxes are selected, then press ok. The headshot should now be cut out on its own layer mask.

The next step is to merge the two images into one document. To do this you start by opening the tab for image two (over the top of the headshot tab) then without releasing, drag the image into the middle of the headshot and release. It should now be on a new layer.

Next is cropping. For most double exposure photos only, the top of the shoulders will be seen, if anything needs to be cropped out in your image, do that now.

Now to blend and mask the layers. To start select the background image layer and change the blending mode to lighten. The blending effect should start, this is a simple double exposure, if you want to add more detail then continue on.

Because the top layer is a clipping group, this allows you to drag it around and reposition it while staying within the boundaries of the headshot. The silhouette of the headshot should still be slightly visible, press ctr+l for levels. To make the shadow area disappear you want to slide the white slider over, the mid-tone slider may also need to be moved. It will take a bit of tweaking to get the overlapping areas completely invisible.

Now that the layers have been matched, you can bring back part of the bottom of the headshot and smoothly blend into the shape on top. With layer one still being the active layer, click on the add layer mask button at the bottoms of the layers panel. Choose a soft black brush and paint on the image to mask out the background layer revealing the bottom of the headshot. When the mask is painted on it will hide the factory and allow the face to show through, this is vice versa when using white.

Your double exposure should now be complete, if you want you can experiment with colours and more cropping if needed. :) 

          --- Images are not mine what so ever and were found on google ---