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A double exposure photo is an element of film photography that’s still popular. With modern technology and just your smartphone, you can easily create fun double exposures for free with a handful of mobile apps.
Snapseed is a great free mobile photo editing app. Not only doesSnapseed come out on top compared with Lightroom Mobile, but its double exposure feature is natively built-in, meaning you’re able to easily create awesome double exposure photos from your phone.
With built-in tools, Snapseed lets you create double exposures in a similar way to how film cameras expose them. Starting with a photo with large swatches of black or dark areas allows for an easier application of the second exposure, which traditionally appears in darker areas left behind from the first frame.
Ourtutorial for creating double exposures in Snapseedgoes into more detail on how to create and compose the best double exposure photo from a smartphone. Good tips are starting with a high-contrast image, then converting it to black and white before adding your second image.
Download: Snapseed forAndroid|iOS(Free)
2iPhone Camera
While the iPhone doesn’t strictly offer a native double exposure effect in its cameras, there is a way to fake the effect. You can create a double exposure photo with your iPhone in a similar way as taking along exposure photo with your iPhone camera, by using the Live Photo feature.
This effect will work best on a still subject with an obvious focal area, such as a portrait or still life on a blank background. Too much of a cluttered background around the subject will result in a messy photo.
Select the Live Photo option before taking your photo. At the same time—or immediately after—you select the shutter button, and zoom in by pressing 3x. Alternatively, you can quickly move your camera closer to the subject, but too much movement will negatively impact the result.
Once the photo is taken, go to the Library and open it. On the top left, selectLive>Long Exposure. This accumulates the frames used within an iPhone live photo and gives the effect of a long, open shutter. With the differences between the zooms as you hit the shutter, your photo should look like a double exposure.
While the iPhone’s built-in camera can provide vintage double exposure effects, if you want to replicate other film photo effects, there are plenty of greatapps that provide film and polaroid-style photos.
3Blend Editor
Blend Editor is an iPhone and iPad app that lets you create quick double exposure photos, and the free version of the app is all that’s required to create double exposures using your original photos. The pro upgrades allow you to create more specialized double exposures with skyscrapers, galaxy-scapes, artistic elements, or even levitated subjects.
SelectClassicand upload the two images you want to superimpose with one another. Once uploaded, selectNextand choose your blend type. You can move the top layer image around for better fit, and you can hit the switch icon to change the order of layers too.
Download: Blend Editor foriOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
4Double Exposure
The Double Exposure app lets you both upload your own photos or use the in-built camera to compose images for your double exposure.
It has a handful of features to improve your double exposure result; however, some of these are exclusive to the Pro subscription of the app. For free, you’re able to increase or decrease the exposure of both layers of images or add a small variety of filter types. Free users will have a watermark on their double exposure images.
The Pro features let you turn your phone into a DSLR camera with the settings choices—perhaps making this app a good reason toditch your camera for your smartphone. You’ll find options like shutter speed, aperture, and focal distances to name a few. These features can be helpful even if you’re not producing a double exposure.
Download: Double Exposure foriOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
5Photo Blend - Double Exposure
With multiple Android apps bearing a similar name, this double exposure app offers the closest results to a traditional double exposure photo. Photo Blend is easy to use, you just need one great photo and the app provides the rest to complete your superimposed image.
After uploading your own image, you’ll then choose from the options provided by the app for your multiple exposure image. The options range from cityscapes to landmarks and sunset photos, with some more available exclusively under the Pro plan.
Your selected image will be overlaid with your original photo, allowing you to zoom in and out or move up and down to create the perfect double exposure composition. While the results are not as customized as the other apps pride, you’re able to still create some fun double exposure photos with this app.
Download: Photo Blend forAndroid(Free, in-app purchases available)
6Adobe Express
Adobe Express can be accessed in multiple ways, including through a web browser, desktop app, as well as mobile apps for both Apple and Android devices.
Desaturate your original image, then adjust the brightness, contrast, shadows, and highlights to get the background as white as possible and the bulk of the subject as black as possible—this is where the second exposure adheres to the most.
Select thePlusand upload your second image. you may resize, rotate, or zoom in or out. Then selectEffects>Blendto apply your double exposure effect. Use any further tools available—Express offers a lot of cool features—to adjust or edit your image before saving.
Download: Adobe Express forAndroid|iOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
These six apps offer great free ways to create double exposure effects on your smartphone. In my opinion, Snapseed is the best free option that provides the most realistic double exposure results. It allows you to customize a lot more than many of the other free apps, although all the apps on this list provide true-to-life double exposure photos.
