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Lights in a photo with a long exposure?


happy.smiler

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Hi Guys, great forum!

_MG_7141.jpg

I have taken this photo, from inside a car, while driving though a tunnel with a long exposure, the problem is the exposure was not long enough in the tunnel to get all the lights to join up.

Which is the best tool to do this? (I'm using CS5)

Also I would like to change the colour temp of just the tunnel, so I select the tunnel part, create a new layer and adjust the colours, bit it does not work, I'm trying to make the light more white!

thanks.
 

Hoogle

Guru
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You will need to duplicate the layer then go to filter> blur >radial blur and set it to zoom and adjust the slider so the grid has the zoom effect you want.

Then apply a layer mask and brush out the zoom on the bottom part Then add a hue saturation adjustment layer and select the yellow channel and then adjust the sliders to the new desired colour. Making sure the colour in the tunnel also spills where the yellow colour is in the car to keep it looking natural..

To photograph it for the desired shutter release time would not have improved your image as all the steering wheel and her arms would be blurred in the 5 - 10 second shutter release time.

This is what you will get my way.

_MG_7141.png
 

thedirtyknapkin

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Then apply a layer mask and brush out the zoom on the bottom part Then add a hue saturation adjustment layer and select the yellow channel and then adjust the sliders to the new desired colour. Making sure the colour in the tunnel also spills where the yellow colour is in the car to keep it looking natural..


i think a color balance adjustment would be better suited

carzoom1.jpg
 

Hoogle

Guru
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yes for effect I would agree on colour balance however the OP wants white lights if they want it all white then hue saturation would be better as you can change the lightness easier and semi desaturate it
 

happy.smiler

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Thanks for the help guys.

The effect that I'm trying to get is (mostly) the lights moving at speed. If I use the radial effect on the tunnel part it is all blurred and if I only select the lights the colour is not correct, any ideas?

thanks
 

ChrisHPZ

Power User
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This might prove to be a difficult method, but it does work. Ok, using the Quick Selection tool, make a selection where the windshield is and be careful not to select any part of the inside of the car since we don't want this blurred. If you do select something you don't want selected, you can use the Subtract From Selection tool. It's at the top of the screen in the control panel. Now, the lights here should be blurred from a top left to a bottom right diagonal direction on the left side, and the opposite on the right side of the windshield. With that said, you're going to want to apply the motion blur effect to the left half of the windshield and the right half separately. Told you this might prove to be difficult, but bear with me. Once you have the entire windshield selected, click on the Subtract From Selection in the control panel and clear away the right half of the selected windshield. Now apply the motion blur effect to the left half. Motion blur effect is in Effect>Blur>>Motion Blur. For the angle setting, use something like -18 degrees and about 20 to 30 pixels. Repeat the process to select the right side of the windshield except when you motion blur the right side, use 45 for the angle of the motion blur at around 35 pixels. Here's your image again using the method I just posted. In case you're thinking about it, don't bother with the blur tool or the smudge tool. It makes a mess of the image.

blurredLights.jpg
 

Hoogle

Guru
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A long exposure would be blurred so I am not following what you want
Do you want the tunnel staying sharp and strips of light running down the tunnel as that will just look weird as you want the sense of motion surely.
 

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