Seattle lights

Here’s a technique I’ve wanted to try for a while and this Seattle comp from Jose Rizal bridge was the perfect place to try it. This view is great because you have the freeway overpasses intersecting with all the greenery of the city with the freeway kinda enclosing the city in the background. In this technique you snap a shot at sunset or sunrise and another one with the city lights. You then blend the lights from the city onto the sunset shot using the “lighten” blend mode. The sky and the greenery in the foreground are from the sunset shot, and the overpasses and city lights are from the night shot. I accidently kicked my tripod in between shots so it was a little difficult to align the two layers but after a bit of cleanup this is the final comp. I will be trying to use this same technique at Hahn once we get a nice winter storm with snow on Baldy. Nikon D750, Nikkor 20mm 1.8, foreground and sky: f/11, 1/6 sec, ISO-100, lights: f/11, 30 sec, ISO-400. 

www.bay-photography.com