The Harris Shutter Effect – What Is It And Why You Should Give It A Go

The Harris shutter effect was invented by Robert Harris of Kodak during the days of film photography, where Harris used a strip device that had three coloured filters (the primary colours, red, blue and green) separated by opaque sections.

The filter strip (called the Harris Shutter) setup looks something similar to this illustration below. The Red, Green, and Blue areas are glass filters with the black opaque sections in between.

Filter Strip – Illustration Made For Light Stalking

Basically, the set up used for this photography technique had a thin cardboard box, that had holes on opposite faces so that the lens could see through. This cardboard box, acted as a guide to let the filter strip setup slide through in front of the lens when the film was exposed in bulb mode. This is a type of long exposure photography.

Although this is an old technique from the days of film, there is nothing to cringe at, as this can be now developed for digital colour photography and can be an interesting and fun project to work on if you like playing with colours in photography.

You can be creative and make your own art if you get the idea of how this works.

Greg Cullen

What Is The Harris Shutter Effect?

The Harris Shutter is a strip device with three colour filters that helps to make colour photographs where the effect of the red, blue and green filters are recorded in a single image.

Originally the Harris Shutter Effect was made by re-exposing the same frame of film (similar to today’s multiple exposure in camera) three times, through three different coloured filters (red, blue, green), keeping the camera stable while photographing the same scene.

The areas with movement or the moving elements in the frame, have the colour of the filter used when photographing at that time and the areas with no movement (static elements) appear as normal colours because the red, blue and green combine to reproduce the original colour. This effect can be achieved in cameras that let photographers take multiple exposures, using the process below.

The image is made by shooting three exposures of a scene, through a red, blue and green filter in succession. The images are shot one on top of the other as multiple exposures, . This way , the static elements in the frame appear in ordinary colour whereas the moving elements show up in one of the three colours, red, blue or green or other rainbow colours depending.

Harris shutter effect view of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Image by Thiophene_Guy

In areas where the movements overlap two or more colours, the image will have the combined effect of the colours, for example, there will be magenta colour where there is a combination of red and blue colours, etc. This technique is a great way to show movements in photographs in an artistic way.

With the availability of advanced digital technologies and post processing applications, the Harris Shutter effect or technique can be created in camera or using post processing applications.

How To Achieve The Harris Shutter Effect?

You will need a camera that can take multiple exposures.
You will need to mount the camera on a tripod in a location that has static elements and some movements.
Now, expose a frame three times with different coloured filters each time – you will need to use the red, blue and green filters, while keeping the camera steady in the same position. Doing so will generate a colour on or around any object that moves within the frame.

The Harris Shutter Effect on a single image can be achieved in two ways:

You can either take a multiple exposure shot (3 exposures) by changing the filter in front of the lens (red, blue, green) for each exposure
You can build a filter strip with three coloured (red, blue, green) gel filters similar to the filter strip setup above (a drop through filter) that you can just drop the strip through the filter holder during the exposure. You may have to slightly increase the exposure time for this method so that the shutter is open for the entire time the filter strip slides through the filter holder in front of the lens. Make sure you adjust the exposure settings to compensate for the long exposure.

If your camera does not support multiple exposures, you can take three separate exposures, each with different coloured filters (red, blue and green) and then stack them using a post processing application. Make sure that your exposure settings are the same while using all the three coloured filters.

Gear Required For Harris Shutter Effect:

Camera that can shoot multiple exposures
Tripod to mount the camera (you need a tripod because with multiple exposures or long exposure or while changing filters, you need the camera to be steady without any movements)
Red, blue and green coloured filters or drop through filter strip setup
Optional cable or remote release

Set of three circular red, green and blue primary glass filters. Image by Sciencestockphotos

What Are The Best Situations For Harris Shutter Effect?

In order to have a beautiful image where the effect is evident, you should choose a scene that is static and has some movement. Some examples are

A busy street
Water drops photography
Waterfalls, a flowing river, water fountains
Fast moving clouds
Waves in a beach

Filming the surf (Harris Shutter Effect). Image by Thiophene_Guy

Roads with vehicles moving
A park with people or children moving around
Carnivals
Fire
Try this when doing Light Painting. You will get some brilliant colours.
Animals moving in a national park
Sports scene
Creative portraits
Anything that moves in a static scene

Image by Josh Smith

Can Harris Shutter Be Achieved Using Post Processing Applications?

Yes, if you do not have the filters or if your camera does not support multiple exposures or you do not want to get into the hassle of taking multiple exposures, you can use any post processing application like Adobe Photoshop or a free one like GIMP to achieve this effect.

You will need to just shoot three normal colour photographs (without any filters) in succession and then create the effect while post processing. You will need to separate the red channel from one image, blue channel from the second image and green channel from the third image and then combine them to get the final image.

Make sure there is some movement in the frame in order to get the effect. For very fast moving subjects like a train or a speeding car/bike, you can use the burst mode to get the subject in frame all through the three shots.

(Harris shutter effect) Boarding the bus. Image by Thiophene_Guy

Image by Thiophene_Guy

Strolling on the beach (Harris Shutter Effect). Image by Thiophene_Guy

Yep, There Is An App For That!

There is even an app called Harris camera for iOS users if anyone is interested.

HarrisCamera app: Self-portrait. Image by Litlnemo

If you are looking for a weekend project and running out of ideas to create something new, you can try the Harris Shutter Effect. Remember to share the images you create and your experiences with the community at Light Stalking. We would love to see them.

Have you tried the Harris Shutter technique before? If yes, which method did you use? Do you have some tips that would help other photographers? Please share them in the comments section below.

Trick photography can be interesting and if you are someone looking to take breathtaking special effects shots with just your regular camera, then you should check out Trick Photography by Evan Sharbonneau.

Further Resources:

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