Olympic photographers are utilizing a 160-year-old approach to create artwork on ice, freezing ice skaters in ethereal images

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: