I’m embarrassed to admit that for the longest time I had no idea the Hasselblad 500c/m was capable of making multiple exposures on a single frame with a roll of film. With most of my cameras, the ability to do multiple exposures has always been controlled by a dedicated switch, typically labeled “multi” or by an icon of two rectangular frames over top of each other. With the Hasselblad 500c/m I just figured this wasn’t an option. However, when it comes to Hasselblad, simplicity usually wins the day and the process to make multiple exposures is not only quite simple, but also incredibly easy.
Before going any future, I suppose I should answer the question; what is a multiple exposure? Multiple exposures are photographs in which two or more images are superimposed in a single frame. With a little bit of practice they can be quite fun and often yield dreamy or otherworldly results.
Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford PanF ISO 50 film in medium format.
So if anyone out there reading this is like me and didn’t know you can do multiple exposures on a single frame with the Hasselblad 500c/m, here is a quick outline of the steps you should follow:
STEP ONE: Expose your first image like normal. Typically when doing multiple exposures I underexpose each frame a stop or two to keep the final negative from getting too dense.
STEP TWO: Without advancing the frame, insert the dark slide into the camera and remove the film back.
STEP THREE: With the film back removed, cock the shutter on the film body only!
STEP FOUR: Re-attach the film back and remove the dark slide.
Your Hasselblad is now ready to expose another image onto the same frame of the film roll. Since you removed the film back when you cocked the shutter, the roll of film has not been advanced and you are now exposing the same frame again.
You can repeat these steps as many times as you like to make as many exposures on the same frame as you want. Two, three, five, one-hundred if you want to! Personally I haven’t gone above two exposures on the same frame because I think it is easy to get cluttered and messy with compositions, but hey, in the creative process there are no rules and I’m sure someone could point out to me a photographer who does a lot more than two in camera.
Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford PanF film in medium format.
These images are from my first outing after discovering this new technique. Ilford Pan F would perhaps not be my first choice of film when working with a process that requires a bit of guess work, but the day was very bright and warm and I wanted to open the aperture up wide to blur my backgrounds a bit. Even with an ISO 50 film I was still forced to work at about f/8 which wasn’t ideal and put some constraints on my creative vision. Even on the best of days photography is about compromise so I worked with the resources and situation I had on hand and made the best of it.
I plan on doing a lot more multiple exposures in the future.
