How to Create a Double Exposure Effect

Open a portrait photo and a landscape or texture photo in Photoshop. The portrait works best when it's a strong silhouette or high-contrast image against a light background. The landscape should have interesting textures — forests, mountains, or cityscapes work well. Place both images as separate layers in the same document.

Using the Move Tool (V), click and drag the landscape image onto the portrait document. It appears as a new layer above the portrait. Use Ctrl+T (Cmd+T) to enter Free Transform, then resize and position the landscape to cover the areas you want visible in the final effect.

In the Layers panel, click the dropdown that says 'Normal' and change it to 'Screen' or 'Lighten'. Screen mode makes black areas transparent while keeping lighter areas visible — this creates the classic double exposure look where the landscape appears within the brighter areas of the portrait.

With the landscape layer selected, click 'Add Layer Mask' at the bottom of the Layers panel. Select the Brush Tool (B) with a soft brush and black color. Paint on the mask to hide parts of the landscape on the face and subject areas, keeping the effect visible in the surrounding areas.

Add a new layer below everything and fill it with white or a soft off-white color. This gives your double exposure a clean, gallery-ready background. Add a Curves adjustment layer to tweak contrast — pull down the shadows slightly and pull up the highlights for a dramatic, moody result.