Part 1 — BewareMyVelvia Film Simulation Recipe

Now that you have the BewareMyVelvia Recipe programmed into your Fujifilm camera, it’s time to make some multiple-exposure photographs using that Recipe. The process I’m discussing here comes from Tom Baumgaertel, a.k.a. bewaremyfuji. This is fairly easy to do, but also quite tricky. You can expect to make a lot of mistakes and have plenty of failures, but, as you get more and more experience, it will begin to make sense, and you’ll get better with it. Pretty soon you’ll begin to achieve striking results. This won’t come naturally to most people, but it’s something that anyone can learn. Just be patient, and don’t give up.

For this technique, you do need a fourth or fifth generation X-series camera, which (as of this writing) are the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, X-T30 II, X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, X-T50, X-M5, X-E5, and X-T30 III. You can also do this with a GFX100, GFX100S, GFX 50S II, GFX100 II, GFX100S II, and GFX100RF. On most Fujifilm cameras you can do multiple-exposure photography, but only the “newer” cameras (X-Trans IV and V) are capable of this particular technique. I recommend Large image size, and either JPEG or RAW+JPEG (I select L 3:2 Fine+RAW, personally).

Step one is to set up Multi Exposure in the camera. There is some variance in how this is done depending on the model. Many cameras have a Drive button (for example, X100VI, X-E5, GFX100S II, X-S20), and when you press that, a menu appears—simply scroll until you find Multi Exposure. On other cameras (for example, the X-T5), it’s in Shooting Setting subset of the main Menu. If you can’t find it, refer to your camera’s manual. Once you locate Multi Exposure, you are presented with four options: Additive, Average, Comparative Light, and Comparative Dark. Choose Additive. You can use the BewareMyVelvia Recipe with Average, too, but for this exercise you’ll want to use Additive.

The Additive option in Multi Exposure will (as the name implies) add each exposure on top of the others, increasing the brightness. Because of this, it’s very easy to overexpose the image. This is a major piece of caution. Underexposure will be your best friend. I avoid anything brighter than -1 Exposure Compensation, and find myself often using -2 or even -3 sometimes. It’s very easy to add too much exposure, so less is often more.

Once you find something to photograph, compose your image and press the shutter release button. The camera will say: OK Next; ◀︎ Retry; Back Exit. If you are satisfied with your photo and want to layer another image, choose OK. If you are satisfied with your photo but don’t want it to be a multiple-exposure picture (only a single-exposure image), select Back, and the camera will save the photo, and restart the Multi Exposure process. If you are unsatisfied with your picture, arrow to the left and try again (the picture will not be saved).

If you are satisfied and ready to layer the next image, select OK and look for another scene to add to what you’ve already captured. It’s important to carefully consider shadows and highlights, as well as space. Light areas over light areas will look bright and possibly muddy. Dark areas over dark areas will hide details. Placing something bright within a dark area will stand out the most. Since your previous image is superimposed over the current scene, that will help you to align it. Be creative, and experiment with composition and element placement. If you mess it up, simply arrow to the left and retry—you have unlimited redos, as long as you don’t power off the camera. There were instances that I retried an exposure 10 or more times before I was finally satisfied with it.

You can stop at two exposures, or blend as many as nine. Two or three is often enough. I would avoid going beyond five, but feel free to try. The camera will save each individual frame used in the multiple-exposure image, in addition to the multiple-exposure image itself. You can get creative with the exposures, by adding intentional movement or going out of focus with one or more of the shots. Sometimes a subtle splash of color within the negative space can make a major difference. There’s a lot of experimentation that you can do here, so don’t be afraid to try different things.

Another important creative step, which is optional but highly encouraged, is to change the White Balance between exposures. The easiest way to do this is adjust the WB Shift from -9 Red to +9 Red in between the first and second (or second and third) exposures, which I did frequently but not always. This is something that you can go crazy with, so don’t be afraid to try wild ideas. Adjusting the Kelvin value to something cool (like 3200K) or warm (like 9000K) can be fun; however, simply changing the WB Shift is probably enough. I encourage you to experiment with this, but at the very least, try using a -9 Red WB Shift on some exposures and +9 Red on other exposures within the same multiple-exposure image. That tip alone is both mind blowing and mind opening, so be sure to thank Tom for it.

The example above shows how this works. All three exposures are dark, but when combined together they’re much brighter (that’s how Additive Multi Exposure works). Also, the three frames on their own are nothing spectacular, but when combined together, it’s actually kind of interesting. Had I not adjusted the WB Shift in between the second and third exposure, the picture would have been boring—I know this because that’s what I initially did; however, I redid the third exposure, making sure to adjust the WB Shift from -9 Red to +9 Red. Sometimes multiple-exposures work well without that WB Shift adjustment (see the BewareMyVelvia Recipe examples in Part 1), but oftentimes that WB Shift adjustment is what makes the photo pop.

Below is another triple exposure image example. This time, I adjusted the WB Shift in between the first and second exposure, and then switched it back in between the second and third. I also used a slow shutter speed and intentional movement (while purposefully out of focus) for the third exposure. Oftentimes I use a blurry exposure within my multiple-exposure images.

The conclusion is that, when you do multiple-exposure photography, the whole is greater than the parts. Two or three or more uninteresting frames can become something extraordinary when combined together in a thoughtful way. You’ll have the most success with this technique as the sun is going down and into the night. It’s more difficult to get good results during the day, but it’s not impossible, so be sure to try it once you’ve had a chance to practice at night.

Using the BewareMyVelvia Recipe for multiple-exposure photography was extremely enjoyable. It was really invigorating and inspiring! I had so much fun photographing with Tom, and I’m really looking forward to the next opportunity, whenever that happens. I want to give a big thank you to Tom Baumgaertel for allowing me to share his Recipe and technique—if you appreciate it, too, be sure to let him know in the comments! Below you’ll find a few more multiple-exposure example pictures.

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Fujifilm X-T5 in black:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-T5 in silver:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Nuzira