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Thread: alignment of multiple exposures

  1. #1

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    alignment of multiple exposures

    I'm trying to take an image during dusk before things like street lights come on, delibrately under-exposed to lay some detail into the film, and then i'm waiting for all the lighting to come on, and taking a second exposure to correctly expose for these lights.

    In spite of ensuring that I tap the dark slides to ensure the film doesn't settle between shots (maybe 1 hr), I always seem to end up with a small mis-alignment of the 2 shots.

    I assume this occurs when I re-cock the shutter, no matter how careful I am.

    Has anyone any tips which may help me get the 2 images properly aligned?

    Regards

  2. #2

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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    search atg tape, the film moves. I've never gotten double exposures do work either.

  3. #3

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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Not sure what the look you are looking for is, but there's a time when the ambient and electrical lights are perfectly matched, why don't you do one exposure at that time?

    Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like your time would be better spent bracketing a bunch of exposures.

  4. #4

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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Hey,

    I've been able to do it but not all the time.

    Before you load your film into the camera try knocking the film holder against your hand 2-3 times so that your film drops to the bottom of the holder.

    Some of the exposures for this work: http://anti-aesthetic.net/sunrise.html were done that way. Enough exposure before the sun breaks the horizon so that I get foreground detail. Then I re-cocked the shutter and left it open for an hour or so.

    ATG tape also works well.

  5. #5

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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Quote Originally Posted by false_Aesthetic View Post
    Hey,

    I've been able to do it but not all the time.

    Before you load your film into the camera try knocking the film holder against your hand 2-3 times so that your film drops to the bottom of the holder.

    Some of the exposures for this work: http://anti-aesthetic.net/sunrise.html were done that way. Enough exposure before the sun breaks the horizon so that I get foreground detail. Then I re-cocked the shutter and left it open for an hour or so.

    ATG tape also works well.
    In spite of ensuring that I tap the dark slides to ensure the film doesn't settle between shots (maybe 1 hr), I always seem to end up with a small mis-alignment of the 2 shots.

  6. #6
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Quote Originally Posted by sully75 View Post
    Not sure what the look you are looking for is, but there's a time when the ambient and electrical lights are perfectly matched, why don't you do one exposure at that time?

    Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like your time would be better spent bracketing a bunch of exposures.
    Agreed. Maybe I am missing something in what he is trying to accomplish. I'd guess that 99.9% of the successful "twilight" shots people see are done with one exposure. I tried what the OP suggests when I first started out in 1978, even got a press shutter to help with alignment. Once I learned to do it with one exposure I never looked back. That was 32 years ago.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  7. #7
    おせわに なります! Andrew O'Neill's Avatar
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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Get some thin, double-sided tape. Stick a very small bit inside your holder, in the centre. Slide in a sheet of film, blast it with some canned air to force the film back onto the tape (and remove and nasty dust that may have settled). Be sure to use a small piece of tape, otherwise it's tricky removing the film. I did this successfully while photography coal mines in Japan. Double exposures and for very long exposures.

  8. #8

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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Bruce, I think that beside the taping of film you need to use what Kirk has mentioned - a press shutter, it is self-cocking and you will not need to touch it as long as you use bulb for both exposures.

    Also before you make the first exposure let the film to sit in camera, for a few minutes, with the dark slide removed - in order to prevent film bulging/moving due to the possible differences in temperature and/or humidity between the holder and the inside of camera.

    cheers
    - Mark_C

  9. #9
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    I have done several multiple exposures with the 8x10 (no tape, etc) -- but usually due to the wind coming up so I stop the exposure (usually several minutes in total length) and then re-start it once things settle down. About 75% success rate. Sometimes I let the sun paint across the floor of the forest, taking multiple exposures as the sun moves.

    Usually with a Copal 3 shutter -- perhaps the bigger shutter tends to be easier to re-cock since it has more mass? Cocking it takes no more effort than my Copal 0. Since my lensboad does move slightly side-to-side in the front standard, I make sure I start with the lensboard all the way over to the side that re-cocking would bias it to.

    Vaughn

  10. #10

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    Re: alignment of multiple exposures

    Kirk and Sully both have it right, wait for the right time and do it with one exposure.

    A smear of grape jelly in the middle of the filmholder works as well as tape and has virtually no thickness to displace the film.
    One man's Mede is another man's Persian.

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