Photography Trend: Double Exposure Portraits

Whether they are created within the camera or by using photo editing software such as Photoshop, multiple exposure photography can have some very cool and interesting effects. Double exposure portraiture in particular seems to have been cropping up a lot in the past couple years and with increasing frequency. When I'm browsing various photographers on Flickr, I feel it's no longer unusual to see at least one of these portraits among an artist's work. So, here I've gathered several artists who have created their own versions of this popular portrait style. If you are interested in the technique yourself, check out Aneta Ivanova and Sarah K. Byrne's work below to find their tutorials.

Dan Mountford, early 2010-late 2011, created in camera
Mountford's work is the earliest dated double exposure portrait photography I could find. That doesn't mean of course that he started the trend, but it's worth noting nonetheless. What I love about this set is the subtle transitions between portrait and architecture, creating a seamlessly beautiful image.

Artificial and Immersive Atmospheric Installations

It's raining. You hear the steady and relentless dripping and splashing of the falling water, the air is dense with cool moisture, and wouldn't it be great to be able to safely walk through, sans umbrella, without your clothes getting soaked and your shoes filling up with water? Random International's installation at The Museum of Modern Art in New York allows you to do exactly that.

Using a unique system of pressure regulators, 3D tracking cameras, and custom software, Rain Room allows the visitor to navigate through a downpour without getting wet. (And thanks to a metal grating covering the floor, your shoes stay dry as well.) Previously featured in London, The Guardian described it as a "startlingly surreal experience" as you control and dance with the weather in a way otherwise impossible, since wherever you stand, the rain avoids your space. The installation is open now until July 28, 2013 in the lot directly across from the museum.

Buildings Shaping the Sky

This world that we have around us is not a world that we perceive, more a world that we create and make. Now this seems a bit of a surprise because we really feel and we are very much attached to the fact that we are receiving these perceptions as opposed to creating them. But we do create the reality in which we live.

-James Turrell, Art 21 Exclusive

Romain Jacquet-Lagreze, a French-born graphic artist and photographer, features Hong Kong's ever growing city of rising buildings in his photo series Vertical Horizon. Inspired by the city's "architectural race to the sky," his photographs highlight the looming height of the buildings as they recede far above the viewer.