It’s such a pleasure to walk around a city early in the morning. Especially when it’s completely empty and quiet. I even wrote an article why to take photos at sunrise and it really is worth it. It was same in Cesky Krumlov. I think I seen only one other person on my way from the hotel to this spot.

This is a HDR from 4 exposures, created in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 6, Camera Model: Canon 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 24-70mm F2.8, Focal length: 24mm, Aperture: 7.1, Middle exposure time: 32s, ISO: 320, Tripod used: yes, Location: 48.808551, 14.313694

One thing I do over and over when blending photos, is to blend light trails created by cars, to create one big light trail. And today I will show you how to do it using luminance masks. So let’s get started.

1+2. Here I have two photos. One darker, one lighter. Let’s say I want to blend the light trails from the lighter one into the darker one. The first step is of course to load both files into Photoshop layers (you can check my guide on how to do that here) and arrange them, so the layer that we need to work with (the brighter here) is on the top.

3. Once we have them loaded, we need to hide the top layer with a layer mask. IT will be needed a little later, but it’s easier to add it now. To add a black layer mask, hold down the ALT key and click on the Add layer mask button in the bottom right.
4. After that, hold down the SHIFT key and click on the new mask, to turn it off for now. We do it this way, because, once we create a selection, and then try to add a mask, that mask will have that selection applied, and we don’t want that.

5. Now we need to select the light trails. Open your channels window (if you can’t find it, go under Windows/Channels in the top left menu). Now hold down CTRL and click on the RGB channel. This will crate the first selection. You will see the marching ants around the area that is selected.
6. If the first selection selects too much, not just the lights, we need to refine it. Hold down CTRL, ALT and SHIFT (yes, all at the same time :)) and click on the RGB channel again. The selection will get more precise towards the lights. It can happen that that is still not enough, so keep clicking the layer until the selection is just around the light streaks (don’t forget to hold the keys down).

7. Now we need to hide the top layer again. Hold down SHIFT and click on the mask. Click on the mask once more (without SHIFT) to select it.
8. Now choose a soft brush, it can stay at 100% opacity, choose white color and start painting on the mask, in the areas where you want to blend in the light trails. Continue doing so until they are all visible.

And thats it, that’s how you blend in light trails using Luminance masks. If there are questions, or something is not explained enough, feel free to ask in the comments.

Looking at my recent photos, I see that I haven’t posted a new one from Bratislava in a while now (not counting the drone test :)). So here is a new one, taken a while ago, but edited only today :)

This is a HDR form 6 exposures, created in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 6, Camera Model: Canon 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 24-70mm F2.8, Focal length: 16mm, Aperture: 8, Middle exposure time: 10s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 48.134230, 17.106158

Let’s continue with another photo from the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in the Alps in Austria. For this one, I walked to one of the little huts there (where I believe you can book a stay) and took this shot while including the railing in front of it. I used a f22 here, as I wanted to have as much of the scenery sharp, while still also having the railing in focus.

This is a HDR from 2 exposures created in Oloneo Photoengine, blended with a third exposure in Photoshop.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 3, Camera Model: Sony a7R + Metabones Adapter ver. IV, Lens: Canon 16-35mm F2.8, Focal length: 16mm, Aperture: 22, Middle exposure time: 1/25s, ISO: 100, Tripod used: yes, Location: 47.123663, 12.830379

Here is my first photo from the DJI phantom 3 Pro. The quality is a little all over the place, as it was my fist flight, and I focused more on that than on the camera. It needed a little more setup, as for this the auto used a F2.8 and 1/350 of a second, and the photos just weren’t that sharp. Still a lot to learn :) Also, this is a two shot panorama, I just rotated the drone a little and took a second photo.
Btw. flying with the DJI is a lot of fun and its quite easy, just don’t forget to update the firmware, as it will refuse to start without that (and you have to be by a pc to update)

Technique: Photoshop edit, Number of exposures: 2×1, Camera Model: DJI Phantom 3 Profesional, Focal length: 3.61mm, Aperture: 2.8, Middle exposure time: 1/350s, ISO: 100, Tripod used: yes, Location: 48.164531, 17.169800