How to Shoot Multiples

There are several types of in-camera multiple exposure, with numerous variations thereof:

• Two or more completely different scenes shot on one piece of film. A shot is taken, then the shutter is cocked but the film isn't advanced. Then another shot, taken somewhere else, is exposed on that same frame.

Back in the old days, when shutter cocking and film advance were separate operations, these kinds of multiples were easy (too easy, as some will attest). Most modern cameras, 35mm in particular, wind and cock the shutter in one operation (via the push of a lever or crank of a motor). So you must disengage the wind function to make multis. On some mechanical cameras, you can simply disengage the winding clutch by pushing the rewind button or lever. (Consult your manual.) On electronic cameras, however, you usually have to switch to a separate multi-exposure mode, then enter the number of exposures you want to make on a single frame.

Because each exposure adds more density to the film, you'll end up with extremely overexposed negatives or slides if you simply shoot away at the meter reading. To prevent overexposure, you must deliberately reduce each exposure. With a double image, it's easy: You just shoot the two pictures at half the normal exposure, in other words, one stop under.

But how do you figure exposure if you're shooting, say, 12 multiples? Just multiply the number of exposures times the ISO rating of your film, and reset the camera to that new rating. Example: To shoot a 12-shot multiple on 50-speed slide film, multiply 12 times 50 to get 600. Now set your camera ISO to the nearest standard rating, in this case 640, and shoot away.

• Single-subject multiples: A specialized version of the multiples described above, these are done by keeping the camera in one place (preferably on a tripod) and exposing the frame over and over again. If you shoot, say, a boat bobbing on the water, you'll get an impressionistic, blurred boat against a sharp background!

• Dark-field multiples: If you're shooting a scene with a large black or nearly black area in the frame, you can create multiple images in which individual elements don't have the semitransparent look.

A classic application of this is adding a big moon to a night landscape. A scene with a dark sky area is first shot; then, on the same piece of film, another exposure is made of the moon to add it to the sky. Unlike simple multiscene multiples, dark-field multiples don't add exposure in layers Each shot against the black back ground should be made at normal exposure.

• Flash multiples: Similar to dark-field multiples, except flash is used for the exposures. A fun shot is a double exposure of a person by a solitary tree after dark: With the camera on a tripod, one shot is made with your subject on one side of the tree; another with the subject on the other side of the tree. The two exposures of your subject look like identical twins.

You don't need multi-exposure provision to make a flash multiple - in fact, you don't even need flash synch! With a dark background, just open the shutter on B (or a long timed exposure) and fire the flash the appropriate number of times with the flash test button. Then close the shutter.

• Stroboscopic flash multiples: Some flash units (and some point-and-shoot cameras) have a setting for true Stroboscopic flash: multiple bursts in rapid succession - 10 pops a second, or even more.

Using a black background (or an open space at night), you can use strobe flash for such motion studies as analysis of a golf swing or a check of your Little Leaguer's at-bat form.

Avoid These Five Shooting Mistakes

The difference between professional and amateur video work is obvious to audiences but is not always so obvious behind the camera. With so many things to consider, it's easy to overlook something while shooting that may be irreparable later. Your audience will know if the shoot was handled well or not by how they react to the images you present. Professionals have often
learned by hard experience the consequences of failing to plan against the following five mistakes:

1. Bad framing. Nobody likes to see an actor whose head is cut off by the top of the video frame, but even fewer people like to see an actor with his chin cut off at the bottom. It's important to maintain good balance in the composition of the shot, but the somewhat experienced amateur tends to go to the other extreme by putting all the subjects smack in the center of the frame. That gets boring and the audience will see everything objectively. The professional follows the rule of thirds, keeping the subjects on the lines that divide the frame into thirds, keeping eyes on the top third and movement on the third opposite of the direction in which the subject is moving in order to keep open space in front. While this may seem simple, it is not as easy as it appears once the action begins. Practice following the rule of thirds and you will be able to keep your subjects interesting to watch.

2. Too much zooming. Most consumer grade camcorders have few effects built in but all of them have zooms so many amateurs tend to overuse it. If you pay attention to most of the stuff you see in films or television, the actual zooming is not commonly displayed. Home videos, however, are deeply infected with over zealous zooming and it weakens the production. Picture quality and audience interest remains when you track the camera in for a closer view instead of constantly zooming. The wide shot keeps the highest picture quality so try to use that whenever you can.

3. Backlighting. The amateur videographer is 99% ignorant of how light affects the appearance of the subject on the screen. So much amateur video is so fraught with black figures with dark faces by windows or in front of the sunlight. A word to the wise: keep the strongest light source in front of your actor or subject for the best video quality. Photographers have a flash so they can mix it up but video isn't served by having backgrounds that are brighter than the subject. When forced to video a backlit subject, increase the exposure to totally blow out the background. Better to have a clear face and nothing in the background than a beautiful background with a dark subject.

4. Background noise. Camcorders com with omnidirectional microphones built in but many videographers continue to shoot as if the sound from the front is the only audio that the camera will pick up. What they fail to consider is the fact that the microphone is picking up the planes overhead, the trucks on the nearby highway, the children playing nearby, and the wind. Cut out all the background noise you can before you start rolling tape because once that audio is recorded, you may not be able to clean it up in post production.

5. No tripod. Please, just use it. Get one with quick release plates so it doesn't slow you down much when you need to hold the camera but no human arm or shoulder will ever be able to compete with the steady, dependable, and strong shots that come from using a tripod. Videographers are cocky and think they can handle it with their hands. They obviously have never participated in the production of a major motion picture. The cinematographer never holds the camera himself, he's not so incompetent as to think he can get consistent quality shots with his own arm.

Avoid these mistakes and your audiences will love you for it.