Making the Shot [05] – Day & Night 2.0

A couple of months back, I did a post on how to blend a Day & a Night shot, to make a single image that shows the best of both worlds. If you missed it, find it here.

Today, I’ll do a simpler variant of it – a Version 2.0 of sorts.

We will use these two images …   

… to create the single Day+Night blend below.

As I’d mentioned last time out, the main things to nail are;

1. Location

2. Composition

3. Light a.k.a. Time-of-Day

So, here’s a breakdown of the process;

1. Location & Composition;

Our location is still Uhuru Park, with a view of the CBD. Camera used is a Nikon D5100 with a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

This setup remained in this position for a couple of hours

I framed KICC and Times Tower in the shot so that I could have one building in ‘Day’ and the other in ‘Night’.

1. Light & Shots;

A sunrise shot was chosen of course. It gives the right conditions for this kind of image and it also means a more challenging composite since the sun is in front of the camera.

‘Night’ image was taken at 0615h. Settings were 15 sec, f/11, ISO 100.

‘Day’ image was taken at 0715h. Settings were 1/15 sec, f/11, ISO 100.

The setup shouldn’t move for the entire duration of the shoot. Adjust the camera settings as the light changes.

If you can, have two setups . That way, one can remain stationery for a couple of hours, while the other one can be a rover.

1. Editing & Blending;

I use Lightroom & Photoshop for 95% of my work and this wasn’t any different.

How to apply the mask to fade out one of the images.

1.   After minor tweaks in Lightroom, I imported the two images into Photoshop. I kept ‘Day’ image at the top and then created a mask for it, so that I could hide the bit I did not want to use.

For a clearer understanding of masks, check out this tutorial on YouTube.

2.   I then used the gradient tool to smoothly fade the mask to hide the mask from black to white.

Simply click on the mask (NOT the image), pick the Gradient Tool (G), and with the background colour set to black, drag from one side of the mask to the other to create a smooth gradient.

3.   This is how the mask looks in relation to the images. The areas in red hide the main image and reveal what is directly below it.

Activate this mode by clicking on the mask while holding down Shift+Alt.

4.   I have hidden the ‘Night’ image below to show how the image looks – transparent where the mask is black.

Final touch-ups to the composite.

5.   This is how the final composited image should look like after applying the mask and revealing the image below.

6.   Merge the two into one by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. 

Finish this process off by straightening the verticals, cleaning up any dust spots and removing any annoying/distracting elements in the photo.

Finally, apply your watermark, export the image and share with the world!

And, that’s it! Another Night+Day blend in the bag.

You can experiment at different times of the year to get different effects of the light on the skyline, as seen in the image below.

Another variant of the same composition [I prefer the other one] …

… and the last one, for good measure.

So, as always, head out and make some magical images. Put your knowledge into practice.

Have a blessed week.

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