Multiple Exposure for Winter Plants
Last weekend I looked up some gardens to go to and see and found to my pleasant surprise that there were lots of gardens within a short distance from me - and I also found that they were all closed until March! So I found a garden centre - Oakgate Garden Centre in fact - that had some small gardens as well as the plant selling and cafe part. I made my way there and discovered they may be bijou in size but they had many inspirations for some multiple exposures so here they are.
The hellebore above is blended with a layer of stone wall with lichen to give a more painting feel to it - and a dark carpet from the British museum of all places for a bit more texture. I think it just gives the flower a little dreamy feel.
At this point in the year the orange tones are prevalent in the gardens and even though it isn’t autumn I still love that colour palette. So here are 3 images showing off that lovely colour.
The first one is a single image at an aperture of 2.8 and added a texture - of a ceiling. I like the mixture of the sharp and the blur in this image.
The middle image is a favourite. Again, a single image taken at a very wide aperture and then blended with a texture of the lino from the kitchen! I have to say I am very much enjoying using textures from ordinary sources….
The right image is an out of camera blend of 2 layers of in camera multiple exposure (just 2 layers) and then that lino texture again. I think it’s pretty effective to get the right composition as well as texture.
Here’s a bit of a green selection…..
I am not sure what species of plant the one on the left is (if anyone knows, please do let me know!) This was again a wide aperture photograph and blended with an image of a wall with lichen.
The centre plant I liked because of the spiky leaves and their contrast with the red stalks (again, I have no idea what plant this is!) I blended this with a carpet image which I quite like, though I wish the red stood out a bit more.
The left image is an in camera double exposure (one focused and one not) and a layer of out of focus green leaf - this is a way of making an image softer without it being too washed out, as it might be if I used a lighter layer.
To finish with the below image I really love as it was such a surprise! I had a couple of these images of hellebores which I combined in photoshop. As there were two that weren’t exactly aligned it gives a more abstract look. I persevered with the blend modes and this is ‘difference’ which turned them from cream to lilac! A white paint layer later and a painting effect is produced which I think enhances the image.
Do try some of the techniques that I have suggested and let me know how you get on with them!
