Photoshop Tutorial : Combining Multiple Exposures

UPDATE: Video Tutorial > HERE

Its Tutorial time, I'm going to show how to do something that is asked a lot on Photography Forums.

Combining Multiple Exposures

Ok a list of tools I used to do this
1. Camera with wide angle lens (I used the kit lens that comes with most Canon DSLR's)
2. Remote release (easier than using the timer!)
3. Tripod - I use a Slik Pro 700DX
4. Time (lots of!)

How To:

1. Choose your location - pref with a constant light source and setup the camera with the remote release attached.

2. Set exposure and focus for the scene, focus somewhere in the middle - i focused on the right hand edge of my TFT (i use a Formac 2010).
2a. Disable Auto focus.
2b. I shot with a aperature of f10, giving me an exposure of 1sec @ ISO100..

3. Set the camera to time delay shutter and press the shutter release and quickly get into position, or get into position with your remote shutter (find some way of hiding/using it - you could always clone it out after).

4. Repeat step 3 until you think you've nailed enough shots to get a good set up.

5. Open pics in Photoshop and drag them into the first pic, try and put them in an order so that the furthest pose away from the camera is first and then build upwards so the closest pose is at the top of the stack.
5a. Using the lasso tool - freehand or polygon - select each pose and feather it by 5px, then hit the layer mask button in the layers pallet.

6. Repeat for each layer, some layers may be more complex than others to hide, so grab the brush tool and paint away unwanted areas.

7. Because you're setup on a tripod and unless you have a moving scene, for the most, the selection doesn't have to be all that great.

And now you're all asking what's Layer 4! well i figured i'd cast a shadow on myself from behind looking over my shoulder, so i added a shadowed area over my ear and neck