Double Exposure: Behind the Scenes Engagement Session

I love when the bf comes to visit because he always assists and thinks to capture behind the scenes footage when I am doing a session. The video below is me photographing an engagement session just off Kinney Rd in the Saguaro National Forest (Saguaro National Park West). It was sunset, and it was WINDY. Like, really windy (as evidenced in the video). But we persisted! Watching back, I have to laugh when I listen to the things I say when I’m photographing! But all that aside, the thing I REALLY want to share with you is the final result.

You can see from the video that the light was really warm and bright, as happens at sunset : ) I decided to use this sunset light directly on the couple. Normally direct light is too much (color and strength) so I rarely use it, even at the “golden hour”, but this couple had plans to move shortly back to the East coast and the scene was something they absolutely wanted to remember (it was one of their favorite locations in Tucson) so I wanted to capture it, despite the really bright light. Thinking through my options, I devised a master plan….double exposure!

Double exposure is a tool film photographers used to do manually but now there are apps for that (Snapseed offers it) as well as in-camera functions (my Fuji mirrorless camera does it), and of course you can do it old-school in Adobe Photoshop (my pick). It’s been a long time since I created one, but the desert scene and light inspired me! And so, see what I came up with below!