How to: Take Multiple Exposures at Night

A Multiple Exposure Photography image of St Paul’s Cathedral at night

There’s something truly enchanting about photographing at night. The city comes alive with light, shadow, and energy, and multiple exposure gives us a way of turning those glowing moments into something even more extraordinary. With the right technique, you can capture the vibrancy of the night while layering creativity directly in your camera – no editing needed. Of course post processing multiple exposure also has its appeal (particularly in the depths of winter) and we will take a peek at that too…..

A Multiple Exposure Photography Image of Tottenham Court Road at Christmas

The first technique to talk about is the combining of in-focus and out-of-focus exposures. For the first shot, capture a crisp architectural detail – maybe the lines of a bridge or the silhouette of the skyline. Then, for the second, deliberately defocus your lens. This blurs the lights into glowing orbs, softening the image and giving it a dreamlike, impressionistic feel. Together, the contrast between sharp and soft creates a surreal effect that feels both precise and painterly.

The image above shows how successful this can be with Christmas lights. This was taken in on Tottenham Court Road in London and was created in camera with the canon R6 mkii and included moving the scene slightly between both exposures to get the lights in more random places. I find it is an excellent camera for low light situations.

A Multiple Exposure Photography Image of the London Skyline at the South Bank on the Thames

One of the most striking approaches is crosshatching. This is an in-camera multiple exposure technique where you set your shutter speed to around 1/15 or 1/8 of a second. The slightly slower speed allows you to capture the sharp, graphic lines of buildings, streetlights, or architectural details. By making two ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) exposures, you create a criss-cross pattern of light and structure. I find that making the first movement an upwards movement and the second a left to right this is easier to compose. The result? Dynamic, almost woven images that turn simple scenes into geometric masterpieces. This was taken across the river along the South Bank in London, as was the top image of St Paul’s Cathedral.

A perfect place to try this is London’s South Bank. At night, the skyline itself becomes the perfect subject for crosshatching – the bold outlines of towers and bridges providing clean lines to layer and weave together. The Shard rises dramatically into the night sky and is especially striking for experimental multiple exposures, giving you angular, futuristic images that really stand out. Just along the river, the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral glows with a softer presence, offering a completely different character to play with. Together, the skyline, the Shard, and St Paul’s create a rich variety of subjects, brilliant for building up unique and powerful night compositions. Wilde Photography’s London in camera workshop in November, February and March ensures that you get to have a go at all of this - For more details and booking please click HERE (it will open in a new window so you can finish this little blog!)

A Multiple Exposure Photography Image from Gothenburg

You can also play with crosshatching to push it further into the abstract. The picture above was taken in the dark using the dark blend mode in-camera – hard to believe, I know! Yet the colours came through surprisingly vibrant. To enhance the effect, I added an extra layer: an exposure of white paint, which gave texture and lightened the composition. This was a restaurant front on Gothenburg, Sweden - I bet any other pictures of it are not quite like this one!

Below you can see how far this method can be taken into abstraction. This fun image was created in Gothenburg using a shop front, with a colour texture added on top to give it even more zing. Crosshatching doesn’t need to stay within neat lines – it can become an exciting playground for light, shape, and imagination. If Gothenburg has caught your imagination, why not make it a photography adventure? Join Wilde Photography in 2026 for four nights of exploring the city and experimenting with a whole variety of multiple exposure techniques. Click HERE.

A Multiple Exposure Photography Image at night of a shop front in Gothenburg, Sweden

And of course, multiple exposure at night doesn’t need to stay within the world of architecture. It can slip easily into fantasy. By layering in clouds, birds, or even the blur of people in motion, you can transform a familiar scene into something almost otherworldly. The photograph below is a perfect example – vibrant, layered, and entirely unique. That’s the real beauty of this technique: no two photographers will ever create the same result. Each image is shaped by your own movements, your choices, and your creative vision, making it unmistakably yours. This image was created from one image of the Shard at night, one of a sunset sky, and one of birds.

A Multiple Exposure Photography Image of the Shard at night.

I hope this has inspired you to get out at night and experiment with multiple exposure! I’d love to see what you create, so do share your images with me – there’s nothing better than seeing your personal take on the technique.

If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up for my free newsletter to get tips, inspiration, and updates straight to your inbox. Feel free to leave a comment below – tell me about your experiences, your favourite experiments, or even questions you have. And if you’re keen to take your multiple exposure skills further, have a browse through the courses on Wilde Photography Academy – there’s plenty to explore and learn, all designed to help you bring your creative ideas to life.