Guide

Shoot multiple exposures

Every GR body can layer frames into one photo, in-camera - no editing, no apps. It hides as a drive mode, it previews the merge as you shoot, and it lets you redo the last frame until you like it. Pick your camera and the steps below match your body's manual exactly.

Your camera

0/9

1 · Load the look first

2 · Turn it on

3 · Set it up

4 · Shoot the sequence

Bulb (B) and Time (T) exposures work inside Multi-exposure - light-painting frames are fair game.

Pick your composite mode

Composite Mode decides how frames combine, and it's the whole personality of the technique. The names come straight off the camera; here's what they mean in practice.

Average

the forgiving default

Every frame carries equal weight and the camera keeps the overall exposure even, so nothing blows out no matter how many frames you stack. Ricoh's own GR blog recommends it for casual layering - it's the mode to learn the habit on.

Additive

film-style stacking

Brightness accumulates with every frame, exactly like exposing the same film frame twice. Underexpose each shot - about a stop down for a two-frame merge - or work in dim scenes, or the stack washes out. The most control, the least forgiveness.

Bright

lights on dark

Each new frame only replaces pixels that come in brighter than the first image. Dark backgrounds stay put while neon, light trails, fireworks and the moon punch through - the mode built for night layering.

Three ideas to start with

Silhouette doubles

The classic. Frame one: a clean, dark silhouette - a profile, a figure against sky. Frame two: texture to fill it - foliage, signage, a wall of windows. A hard-contrast B&W recipe keeps the silhouette graphic and the merge legible.

B&W recipes for it

The defocus glow trick

Shoot the same lights twice on Average: once sharp, once completely defocused up close. The blurred frame blooms a soft halo around the sharp one - an in-camera dream filter, no glass needed. Straight from Ricoh staffer KA-TSU on the official GR blog.

the original write-up

Night stacking on Bright

First frame: the dark scene that holds the composition. Then keep adding passes of neon, headlight trails or fireworks - only the lights land, the shadows never muddy. Recall a night-safe street recipe first so the color grade is locked before frame one.

street recipes

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First: get a recipe onto the dial