How To: Give Your Photos a Surreal Effect by Stacking Negatives

Want to add cool effects to your photos without using expensive equipment? Photographer Laina Briedis created these gorgeous shots by stacking 35mm negatives of starry or cloudy skies on top of photos of people to give them a surreal, dreamlike effect.

There are a few ways to go about it. Laina explained to PetaPixel that you can do this with or without a darkroom. If you have access to one, you can expose two negatives at the same time by stacking them, or expose them separately onto the same piece of paper.

Don't have darkroom expertise? Just stack the strips and scan them with a flatbed negative scanner. Or, if you know your way around Photoshop, "you can even use two individually scanned negatives as separate layers. By erasing parts of one image, you allow the other image to show through more (creating a stacked-negative look)." If you no longer shoot on film, it's still possible to get the same results in Photoshop with two digital pics and a little skill.

You can read more about Laina's process here and see more of her beautiful work on her Flickr stream. If you try it for yourself, be sure to post your results in the Inspiration section!