Since many had asked how I created double exposure photos with many film strips in it, I decided to do a simple ‘tutorial’ to share. There are of course many other ways to do it but I’m just sharing my method. I am using a monitor as the light source as it’s the most easily accessible light emitting device right in front of me. Read on to find out more.
Sorry if you need to read these a couple of times to understand, but I am just terrible at writing stuffs like these. This is the best I can do 
Note that this works only on film cameras … if you are shooting digital … you can skip the rest of these and go spend some time time on Photoshop instead.
Here’s what you need …
A roll of brand new film
A roll of unwanted unexposed film. Try using those film that has darker colors (you’ll read about why later)
A camera (of course!)
A computer with no minimum requirements (no, not to Photoshop!)
Some paper tape (not those heavy duty ones)
Some patience (very important)
Okay, let’s start!
Step 1 : A first look
First, take a good look at your computer monitor/LCD. Roughly gauge the height of the display area.
Step 2 : The cutting (no, not cutting your monitor!)
Since you now roughly know the height of your monitor display area, cut the roll of unwanted unexposed roll of film into strips with each having the length similar that of your display area height. Be experimental and feel free to cut some of different length to create more exciting results.
Step 3 : The sticky business
Now that you have several strips of film, stick them to the top of your monitor to create a ‘curtain’. By now you probably realize why I mentioned that it’s good to cut the strips closer to the height of the monitor display area … this will create more ‘canvas space’ for you to work with later. Those paper tapes are recommended as you won’t want some heavy duty adhesive tapes to leave some marks or make those strips of film permanent decorations on your monitor.
Diagram A
Step 4 : Creating ‘Layer 1′
Now comes the fun part! Once you have created that ‘curtain’ of film strips, it’s time to take photos! Excited yet? Hold on! The next couple of lines are important! Before you begin firing away, please take note of the following …
* You will need a blank background, so use any software you are familiar with and create an empty bright full screen image/document. I chose the easiest way (for myself) and created a new Microsoft Powerpoint document with white background and displayed it full screen. This way, I have a completely white background to work with!
* Switch on the maximum brightness on your monitor. You will wanna make sure the background is as bright as possible, so that only the black/dark film strips are captured on this first exposure (aka Layer 1).
As we want to make sure the film strips are as dark as possible, it’s best to work in a low light environment. I prefer doing it at night, so with the lights off, only the bright blank screen is the light source. Why do we need the film strips to be dark? This will allow your 2nd exposure to be exposed nicely on the strips of film.
Diagram B
Load the empty new roll of film into your camera. Before you close the back cover of the camera, you might want to make a marking on the film lead (using a marker pen), so that the frames when you do the double exposure will be as close as possible to the first. See diagram B above. This is not necessary if you wanna be more experimental and don’t mind trying out semi overlapping frames.
Set your camera to shoot 1 stop under, so that the 2nd exposure later won’t overexpose the shots. If you are using ISO200 film, just set your camera to shoot at ISO400.
Now get ready your camera and start taking photos of the strips of film. By now, you probably can imagine what we are trying to do, shooting boring empty black strips of film. Right? Keep shooting frame after frame until you finish the entire roll of film. Be creative and start moving the strips of film and messing it up, so that the end results won’t be all too identical (aka boring!). Just remember to keep as much of the film strips in the frame as possible (you won’t want an image of a tiny strip of image, do you?).
When you have reached the last exposure, just do a rewind (you’ll have to refer to your camera manual for that, if you do not know how) but make sure you leave the film leader outside. This is very important. You will need to load this same roll into the same camera (or another) for the 2nd exposure. If you accidentally rewind that much til no film is left outside the canister, drop by your friendly local lab and they’ll gladly help you extract it.
That’s it!!! You’re done with the first exposure! Remove those film strips from your monitor and keep them safely if you plan to do this again later.
Step 5 : The fun part!
Reload the same roll of film into the camera (or another camera), and this time, try align the marking you made earlier in step 4 with the right edge of the frame (see diagram B) before closing the camera back. Now you’re ready to go out and have some big fun shooting anything you like! Wait! Do remember to set your camera to shoot 1 stop under, as you will be screaming your head off if you overexpose the entire roll later. Once you’re done with the roll … send it to the lab and get it processed as per normal.
Step 6 : Dear God …
Pray hard for good results and collect the roll from the lab when it’s ready. Drop by again, leave a comment to let me know how you enjoyed doing this fun experiment … but if you screw up that roll … don’t curse me just yet. Load another and try again.
Very nice!
u r so good… funny…. yet informative…. and with nice diagram….lol
Thanks to the rangefinder expert, Mr Doublechin for correcting my error. The line ‘If you are using ISO400 film, just set your camera to shoot at ISO200′ should read ‘If you are using ISO200 film, just set your camera to shoot at ISO400′ instead. The post above has been updated.
Nice tutorial ndroo!
Thanks for sharing
AHHH shit i try wrongly lol, o well one roll screwed lol
Mel, u r most welcome
Jem … oops! Where did you go wrong? lol
Wow … I am thoroughly impressed. Thanks for sharing. That looks like a really complex operation! At first I thought it was created entirely in photoshop.
Hi! I stumbled upon your article and am going to try this out! I have already shot the first set of exposures. I’ll drop by later and let you know how it goes!
Thanks for the awesome tips! I look forward to getting my film developed.
P.S. I am also trying the redscale film. I loaded that another camera already.
Wilfrid, I am pretty retarded with Photoshop, so it’s not possible for me to do this in PS. LOL
Lotus, great … waiting to c ur results
this is amazing, thanks ndroo! gonna try it out soon
what camera did you use?
myeye, thanks. I used a Nikon FA for the first exposure (ie. film strips) and then a Lomo LCA+ for the 2nd exposure. Have fun!
i tried it and just got the pictures back….i think i’ll have to try again…hehehehe..wish me luck!
Don’t forget to share the results, ragdoll.
thanks for the tutorial.. juz happened i was doing powerpoint on the computer and had an unwanted roll of film besides me! haha. will post up on lomotion (if it turns out well..)
ndroo… salute you!!
ndroo, you rule !
I’ll try that later !
congrats
thanks for sharing this!! i tried it the first time with no luck, but these directions are pretty neat!
day3hugger,
u r most welcome.
Awww. Sorry to hear about your first try. I’m sure you can make it. Do give it another go.
Have fun!
Oh gosh you are sucha whizzz! This is SUPER. I can’t wait to try it! *salutes in admiration*
D, thanks. Have fun trying it.
what kind of film should you use for the first exposure set?
you know, like a darker film?
@sleepy : Are you referring to the film strips that are placed on the monitor? Well it’s better to find darker colored ones but I guess any film will do. Just make sure you underexpose your exposure when shooting the first round. This will ensure the film strips look darker and the 2nd exposure won’t over-expose. Have fun!
nice one..will try it.
@eastmoe : thanks. Lookin’ forward to see the photos.
Coool~~ I wanna try it out ^^
@Danini : Have fun!
[...] across an article by ndroo about double exposure with film strips. I find his article interesting and fun. So I decided to try it myself using my XA2 with DNP [...]
can i do this too with the blackbird, Fly？
@mao : Of course you can do this with the BBF. Only issue is the first exposure (of the film strips), you might need a camera that can focus closer to the subjects (ie. film strips). I used a macro lens on an old SLR for this. You can also consider using any other cam that can focus slightly closer so that the frame is filled with the film strips only. Of course you can try out other stuffs like including the monitor/LCD in the frame for some fresher effects. Have fun!
hi, is the golden-half camera suitable for this?
@fynn : I think the GH cam is suitable for the 2nd exposure. For the first one (of the film strips), I think you will need a camera that can focus closer. However, you can use a larger area to stick those film strips so that you don’t have to get too close (to focus). Perhaps a larger LCD/monitor or even the TV will do.
Enjoy!
can i use LCA+ for the first layer?
@weewee : Of course you can use the LCA+ for the first layer. Only problem is you might need larger area of the film strips because the minimum focusing distance on the LCA+ is 0.8m. The other solution is using the wide lens for the LCA+ which allows you to go nearer. If you go too close to the subject (ie. film strips), you are most likely to get blurred strips but then that might be cool too. You can try hanging the strips of film at the window instead of a monitor and that will let you hang lots and lots of strips and thus you don’t have to go too near to shoot them. Have fun.
thnx! just finished the first layer.. will do the second layer this weekend..
Hi- I am getting my holga in next week (in transit now), cant wait to try this out.
Quick Question for a newbie like me- what do we mean by ” 1 shop under”?
Thanks!
@0826marco : Congrats on your new Holga. It is ’1 stop under’ means you ‘trick’ the camera in believing you are using a faster film … so that the exposure will be okay when the two exposures overlap. For example you are using ISO200 film … you jsut set your camera to ISO400. Well that’s provided you are using those cameras that allows you to set the ISO. For Holga, it is a bit hard to do this but you can roughly estimate the kind of exposure you are doing. Try not to shoot both the exposures out in too bright daylight … as that might end up in overexposed shots.
OKAY! i did the first exposure with the computer screen and everything! but im a tad bit confused, im using film with an ISO of 400, so i set my camera to 800 for the first exposure. BUT for the second round of shots do i still keep it set at an ISO of 800? or do I move it back to 400?
BTW great idea!
@zooooooooo : Yeah. You shoot both the exposures with ISO800 to ensure both the exposures do not overpower each other.
hi ! very interesting photos you got there. i was wondering where can i get a roll unexposed film?
@jj : Ermm … you will probably have to sacrifice a roll of film if you do not already have some screwed up roll (eg. those which got stuck). You can find those ultra cheap expired ones for this work.
This is so nice
I am going to try it out..
but i don’t understand what u meant by “shoot 1 stop under”,?
@Cheryl : To ‘Shoot 1 stop under’ … you can set your cammie to a higher ISO. This ‘tricks’ the cam into believing that you are using a faster film. Example … you are using ISO100 film … you can set the camera’s ISO setting to ISO200.
aaah, why didn’t I think of that?? you’re a genious
I’ve been thinking of double exposing silhouettes with colourfull subjects and I’ve been wanting to play with exposing the whole 35mm neg nicely. this is like the best of both worlds~ hehe, I always thought you taped these in a huge pinhole camera. hehe, that’d be an expensive shot. not to mention the hard time you would have trying to hnadle the colour film without exposing it. nightmare!
@jojonas : I ain’t no genius … I’m just a guy with itchy fingers. Hahaha!
I can relate to that
Hey ndroo, this is sooo interesting I’m going to do this after my exams, I just got my Canon AE-1, it’d come in handy! I roughly read through the comments to understand a bit more and I saw that you said, “Just make sure you underexpose your exposure when shooting the first round.” Does this mean just shooting one stop under or does it have anything to do with the shutter speed as well?
@Dorothy : Yes the shutter speed definitely plays a part when you are shooting one stop under. A faster speed means less light … and thus underexposing the roll.
Hey ndroo,
thanks so much for this great tutorial to do this nice analogue trick!
I tried it a week ago and just picked up my prints.
Some of the shots turned out just the way i wanted them to but some others ( i guess its the ones i shot in situations with more, brighter light) are not just white between those filmstrips, but show a light greenish part of the picture i was shooting. Hope you get what i am trying to say
Do you think thats a problem of the EV Setting on my cam (cause i was shooting the first and the second exoposure with a -1,0EV setting on my Nikon F50) or is it that my laptop screen just isn´t bright enough to produce those clean white areas.
Beside that im still totaly amazed how the shots turned out and i´m glad i found your side here cause it really inspires me.
all the best.
hey,
i’m not a native speaker (i’m from belgium, ghent), so forgive me this question:
what does the following means:
‘make sure you leave the film leader outside’ (step 4)
i’m using diana f+, so i don’t need to rewind my films. (or maybe i just don’t get the point…)
thx anyway!
wim h.
@wim h : The film leader is the tip of the film that sticks out of a roll of 35mm film canister. You mentioned that you are using a Diana F+ and don’t need to rewind the film. I assume that is a roll of 120 film and not a 35mm one. Right? 120 film works differently and to prepare a roll of 120 film for double exposure will need a different method of ‘rewinding’ it. Anyway, I have this image that shows the film leader in case you are interested.
thx for the tutorial!! very informative.. btw ndroo if i may ask.. what kinda cam to use?? what about using a gakkenflex.. izzit do-able??
thanks!
@Jayson : Great you find this informative. I was using a Nikon FA (with a closeup lens to get close to the film strips) and then a LC-A+ for the 2nd exposure. A Gakkenflex will be good for the 2nd exposure but I’m not sure if it will be good enough (to get close) to the film strips. One way is to have more film strips so that you can shoot them from a further distance.
hello.
this is very very interesting, i will sure try this when i get my diana F+ next week. 
but i think it’s kinda hard.
hello.
this is very interesting, i will sure try this once i get my Diana F+ next week. 
although it’s a bit hard, i think.
@ezra : I’m sure it is possible to do it on the Diana F+. Do remember to share your results once you have tried it ok? Have fun!
ndroo… where have u been my whole life…. THIS IS FREAKING GENIUS
@lux : Glad you like this. Do share the results when you have tried it.
hey this is very cool and interesting! i want to know, when i shoot the film strips, i turn off the light, and just the monitor that on right?and when i shoot the film strips, do i shoot it with flash, or without flash? thaankss ndroo
@isil : You can do it with the lights off if you have the cam on a tripod. A long exposure will definitely be necessary.
A flash is not recommended as you might get ugly patches of lights reflected by the shiny film strip or the monitor.
if i don’t have a tripod?is setting my camera to “B” is what do you mean with long exposures?and what analogue camera is recommended to shoot the film strips?cause usually, lomo like holga, can\’t do the close chot, the need about 1 meter so they can focus to the object. thaaankss
@isil : Well you can always use some other things like a stack of books as a support instead of a tripod. You may or may not require the ‘B’ mode. It all depends on the camera you are using. For long exposures … it all depends on the lighting. You might need a couple of seconds shutter speed to even longer. As for which camera to use … it is best to use one that can focus close to the subject. I am using a macro lens mounted on an old SLR.
[...] blogger) awesome double exposure photo’s some time back and I wanted to do something similar. I followed his instructions which are found here. But when I was putting up negatives to my laptop screen I was wondering if it wouldn’t be [...]
I am curious if you used any filters. I tried this and with daytime whitebalance film and the monitor appeared blue to the film and my shots did not come out very well.
@tyler : Nope. I didn’t use any filter. I guess it is all due to the white balance of the film that you use.
[...] believe I have to wait til Christmas to see it * Good ideas for double exposure photos. Going to try this very soon * My new piña bag * Kirsten Dunst – sure this girl is having a style comeback * Reals Alcazares [...]
Heyy,
What if i am using a Nikon D3000,
I really want to do this :/
@Archana : Digital? Guess the only way to do it is in post processing. Using tools like Photoshop etc, you can do some layers to get this effect. Sorry I know only very basic Photoshop stuffs and not able to show you how it is done. I’m sure you can find some clues on how to do such layering online.