The 2026 Winter Olympics have introduced a variety of legendary athletes to compete on worldwide ice – and a variety of inspirational sports activities photographers together with them. One approach particularly is popping the motion of ice skaters into ethereal artwork: the a number of publicity.
As a second frozen in time, a single {photograph} doesn’t often trace at what occurred simply earlier than that break up second or simply after. But by exposing the picture a number of occasions, Olympic photographers are capturing the athlete’s motion inside a single body.
Multiple publicity images combines a number of photos inside one body. (A double publicity is a a number of publicity with solely two photos.) When the approach was first used in the 1860s, it was identified for its ghost-like impact of including one other picture onto the primary. Echoes of that ghost-like, ethereal high quality will be seen in among the a number of exposures coming from the Olympics, like on this a number of publicity {photograph} by Vittorio Zunino Celotto, highlighting the form of Alysa Liu’s spin:
Photography has, naturally, advanced fairly a bit for the reason that 1860s, and with digital cameras, photographers have the power to decide on how the exposures are mixed in digital camera. While the normal additive double publicity remains to be potential, utilizing different mix strategies can eradicate the ghost-like look and as a substitute repeat the athlete a number of occasions with out the ghost-like impact, like on this shot by Dean Mouhtaropoulos of Liu throughout warm-ups within the Women’s Singles Freeskating:
Using double exposures in sports photography highlights the athletes movement, even when only milliseconds exist between exposures. I’ve spotted the technique in a few of the different types of sports at the 2026 Winter Olympics. In skating, using multiple exposures against the background of white ice creates a lovely ethereal effect.
Of course, the multiple exposure technique, while it shows movement, does obscure some details – which is why a number of the photographers shooting multiple exposures have done so during warm-ups.
With digital photography, multiple exposures can be created with software or, as is the case with these Olympic photos, in the camera, without editing, using a multiple exposure mode and firing off several shots.
Out of all the fantastic images coming from the 2026 Winter Olympics, I love seeing a mix of artistic experiments like the double exposure, thermal images, and even blurry photos mixed in with the traditional sports photography and documentary photography.
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Learn how to create a double exposure in-camera. Or, browse the best cameras for sports photography.