04.15 | The Magic of Double Exposure

Bánhalmi Norbert

Aug 20

2 min read

Updated: Oct 9

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This morning, the weather forecast looked like the trailer for a horror film: dark clouds, the promise of lightning, and in the starring role… our apartment window. In my head I already had Oscar-worthy outdoor photo series playing out, with a day of true artistic flight waiting for us in the city. But fate — and the weather — had other ideas.

The day crawled along like a lazy snail, while my creative energy seemed to be stranded somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. I was beginning to think today's creative output would be about as abundant as a cactus bloom in the middle of the desert — in other words, nothing.

Then, as though an evil little goblin had unzipped the clouds, the rain came pouring down at around four in the afternoon. I stood at the window like a stunned owl, watching the drops of water run down the glass.

I set off for Schwedenplatz, but somehow managed to lose myself in time as if I had fallen through a black hole. I arrived so late that I wanted the earth to swallow me whole.

I was clutching my phone, preparing for an awkward explanation, when — BOOM! — inspiration struck.

Double exposure! We had laid the foundations for this technique in Snapseed only the week before.

That meant even those who couldn't attend could join us online, and we could still create something genuinely powerful.

I called immediately, admitted that I was nowhere near the school yet, and asked the team to dig out three photographs from their phones that were so bad they were almost artistic. I don't think even the Richter scale could have measured how late I was, but thankfully the group entertained themselves perfectly well until I arrived.

Before long, we threw ourselves into the exciting creative process. First, we had to choose a photograph containing both light and dark areas.

We enhanced it, converted the whole image to black and white, then layered a colour image over it and used Snapseed's double-exposure tool to bring the two worlds into harmony. We added a little seasoning with filters, made a few small adjustments, and there it was: our little digital Frankenstein's monster, which somehow turned out to be beautiful.

The team became so addicted to the style that we seriously started considering filling our November exhibition entirely with double-exposure creations. For homework, everyone received a "practise like you're obsessed" challenge, because next week we'll deliberately plan both the base image and the overlay.

Next meeting: 2025.04.22. 17:00–20:00

If you'd like to take part, come and join us.