TRANSFORMING A DAYLIGHT IMAGE

INTO A WILD NIGHT

Tutorial from

http://psd.tutsplus.com/

Compiled by <<coldbing>>
INTRODUCTION
In this tutorial we'll learn how to convert a plain daylight shot into a night shot and add
some special effects to it. We'll not only turn a daylight image into a nighttime image, but
we'll also add some stormy rain to the scene.

Step 1:

Open the building photo first. We're going to select the front gate and isolate it from the
background. Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the background layer. Rename this new layer Gate.
Choose the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and draw a selection around the gate.
Step 2:

Hold down the Alt key and subtract the areas that dont belong to the gate. After you finish
press the Add Layer Mask button. Then set the blend mode to Linear Burn.

Step 3:

Select the Backgroundlayer, then press Ctrl + J and rename this layer Lighting.
Step 4:

With the layer Lighting selected, go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. Select style
three down. Rotate them upside down, and place them in accurate positions. Then move
the Exposure Slider to 93 and set the Ambience to 3, as shown below.
Step 5:

Open thebirds photo and drag it to your composition. Place it behind the Lighting layer.
Then rename it to Birds.

Step 6:

Select the layer named Lighting. Choose the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L), and draw a
selection around the house. Then click on the Add Layer Mask button.
Step 7:

Go to the Background Layer, duplicate it, and place it below the Gate layer. Change the
Layer Blend Mode to Overlay. Then rename the layer to House Overlay.
Step 8:

Press Ctrl + L for the Levels command. Enter the values shown below.

Step 9:

Press Ctrl + U for the Hue/Saturation command. Make sure the Colorize option is selected
and enter the values shown below.
Step 10:

Make sure the layer Birds is highlighted. Then select Sponge tool (O). Set the Mode to
Desaturate and Flow to 100%. Click and drag on over-saturated areas, as shown below.

Step 11:

Select the Burn tool (O). Set the Range to Shadows and Exposure to 50%. Click and drag over
the bright branches.
Step 12:

Select the layer Lighting. Then Press Ctrl + Shift + U to desaturate the layer.

Step 13:

Make a new layer named Fog, and place it on top of the House Overlay layer.
Step 14:

Press D to make sure the foreground color is black and background color is white. Press Alt +
Backspace to fill the layer with the foreground color. Go to Filter > Render > Difference
Clouds. Then press Ctrl + F twice to make the effect more Volumetric.

Step 15:

Change the Blend mode to Linear Dodge (Add) for the Fog layer. Then set the Opacity to
18%.
Step 16:

Press Ctrl + L for the Levels command. Then enter the values shown below.

Step 17:

Select the Gate layer, and add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Make sure Colorize is
selected. Enter the values shown below.
Step 18:

Ok, we havent finished yet. Lets make another stormy version of the same image. Save this
image. Then go to the birds layer, select the Move tool (V), and move the layer until you
cant see the birds.

Step 19:

Set the Opacity of the Fog layer to 30%.

Step 20:

Make a new layer named Rain and place it behind the gate layer.

Step 21:

Press Alt + Backspace to fill the layer with a foreground color. Then go to Filter > Noise >
Add Noise. Turn on the Monochromatic option. Then set the Amount to 170%.
Step 22:

Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the Angle to -50 and the Distance to 32. Then press
Enter to apply the filter.

Step 23:

Press Ctrl + T for the Free Transform command. Scale the layer up to 115% to move
unwanted layer edges outside the frame.
Step 24:

Hold down the Alt Key and click on the Eye next to the Rain Layer to hide all layers except
Rain. Then press Ctrl + L for the Levels command. Then set the values shown below.

Step 25:

Hold down the Alt Key and press the Eye next to Rain layer to unhide all the layers. Then
change the Opacity of the Rain layer to 80%. Then change the Blend Mode to Multiply.
Step 26:

Double-click on Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Then change the values, as shown below.

Step 27:

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer and enter the following values.

Step 28:

Select the Rain layer. Then click on the Add Layer Mask button. Select the Brush Tool (B).
Change the Opacity to 50% and make a few clicks on some areas to minimize the rain effect.

CONCLUSION:
You could use this technique on any building photo taken in daylight. In this tutorial, I used a
photo I took at sunset. Thats why there are no harsh shadows on the building, which makes
the image a good sample to use to show these effects. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Compiled by <<coldbing>>