Star Projector Double Exposure 2: Redemption

My second attempt at double exposing using my star projector was a lot more successful than my first, because- you’ll never believe this- I actually metered correctly.

This time, I turned off the lights in my room and aimed the star projector at a light purple pillow instead of my black sheets to get some extra light. I shot these at about one stop underexposed, which came out to 1/2 second at f/5.6- I figured that slow shutter speed would make things nice and soft.

The colors of the projector shift on their own over time, and I also alternated between in focus and out of focus, to get some frames with distinct stars and some with vague blobs.

The first exposure was taken in my Elan, and the second in my LomoApparat. Framing-wise, this went exactly as it did in my last post: messy. The results are kind of fun, though, as it means there are some photos where you get distinct stars and blobs of light within the same frame.

I used Ultramax this time, and I think the 400 ISO really came to my rescue, because for the most part I had decent exposures despite the camera I was using. Exposure really matters with double exposures like this, as the effect tends to be overpowering when underexposed, and almost non-existent when overexposed.

There was one frame where the scanner cut it off “wrong,” though, and I got two images (with extremely different exposures) in one frame, making it tricky to edit.

Otherwise, I was really happy with this roll. The indistinct blobs of light really make the photos pop, and they wound up being some of my favorite frames.

They’re serving Dubblefilm, honestly.

I think the two far ends of the focus spectrum (distinct stars and vague blobs) worked best. The in-between shots are still pretty fun, but look a little diseased.

I think next time I’ll try a faster shutter speed for the in-focus shots to get a more distinct pattern, although it is tempting to do a whole roll of indistinct blobs. Either way, now that I have proof of concept, I’ll be good and do both exposures in my Elan next time so things actually line up properly!