Layered Photographs

I heard a description of doing this and thought it could be a really neat way to display a picture. When it's put together, I think it's a great way to showcase what doesn't fit in a single image. A bit of a panoramic view, depending on how wide you go. The materials required are really quite simple - several photos, some double-sided tape, background paper, and a frame.

Mom loves flowers and toward the end of summer there are flowers flowering all over the place and walking up the sidewalk to the front door almost requires a machete to get through them all! But it's really beautiful and since this has been "home" for more than a quarter-century now, I wanted to use this as my muse.

I actually took the pictures a few years ago, so that's why my final framed image doesn't match what the outside of the house actually looks like now. It's surprising how much bigger the trees got behind the house.

Start by taking several photos. Just stand in one spot and move the camera around, taking both horizontal and vertical shots. I wish I would have had more vertical pictures to use. You're going to want to err on the side of too many pictures than not enough. You'll never be able to stand in the exact same spot and have the same amount of light again if you discover you're missing the top of the tree you really like.

Now get your images printed. From a digital camera, I'd recommend submitting the photos online to wherever you get photos printed instead of doing the instant-print kiosks. When I had photos printed one time, I started with the instant kiosk and didn't like how they turned out. The lady told me that the machines "in the back" are of a much higher quality than those that will print them instantly, so I'd say it's worth the extra wait.

Once you've got the photos in hand, overlap the photos to create the single image. Play around with which ones you want to end up on top. The last one I put on was the bottom centre because the dog was curled up there on the lawn and I wanted that to show.

Then separate them again so you can start gluing them together. The same double-sided glue tape that you use to make cards can be used here. If you don't have that already, you can buy it at craft stores or a well-stocked dollar store. 

I started with a small piece of scrap paper at the back to glue the first few photos together, but after that there will be enough of a base that each photo will be attached to a couple others. When it was all put together is when I figured out the size of the photo frame I'd need. This one ended up as an 8 x 10. I'm not sure I'd make it smaller than that as what's the purpose if you're just going to cut it down so it fits into the size of a regular photo anyway?

Last set is to mount it on the background paper and frame it. I think if I was to try it again, I might take pictures to fill in more of the sky and the trees at the side so there is less empty space in the frame.

Note that if you try to go too wide from the centre of what your image will be, the picture will really start to curve and get a bit distorted (think of how things look on Google Street View). You can see that happens on the left side of my finished piece and I didn't really realize it until I had mounted it on the final background. This will be more noticeable with straight lines (like the edge of the driveway in mine), so depending on what you're shooting, this may not stand out too much. Wikipedia has some good information here.

Now your turn to showcase a favourite location!
~Lisa