Ever wondered how photographers show multiple instances of people/things in a single photograph? It’s an age-old photography trick made easier with the recent advancements in digital imaging and tools like Adobe Photoshop. Here’s a primer that will get you started right away.
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You will need:
- A tripod
- DSLR Camera (some basic digital cameras may work too)
- Adobe Photoshop (even 6.0 or 7.0 will work)
- A subject willing to be your sacrificial goat
Steps:
- Make sure the place you are working has a constant amount of light; windows are a definite no-no, esp. in cloudy weather.
- Mount your camera on a tripod.
- Set your lens such that it allows you to focus manually.
- Set the camera to manual mode; set the aperture as well as the shutter speed appropriate for the scene.
- Take one image of the background without the subject – let’s call this image A.
- Now, take as many images as you want of the subject in different locations (ideally with different dresses).
- Once completed, open up a new PSD file in Adobe Photoshop.
- As the first (base) layer, import the background image (i.e. image A).
- Now, import all the other images.
- Using the selection tool, cut out the different variations of the subject on the scene and delete the rest of the image area.
- You may have to do some minor brightness/contrast adjustments on the subject but all in all, the effect should be fairly believable; your image is now ready.
Here are a few samples I did; the results could have been cleaner had I invested more time/effort into them, but I suppose I did an OK job.
Enjoy!
Insanity at its best! 
Thanks for the tut, looks like fun. I’ve been wanting to play around with photoshop more ^^
You’re welcome, my friend!
I am really thinking to download the adobe photo shop app for my android. hope I could do this on phone, rather than on PC.
Photoshop for android? That’s news. It should work out for you.
Thanks for your tutorial, very pedagogic!
You’re welcome!