Chris Reinhold
July 2025 - Ross Alley - Nighttime
Original
About the Image(s)
Last November, Emil's image of transforming a daytime scene into a night scene inspired me, and I've wanted to try it ever since. While walking around San Francisco's Chinatown in April, I discovered several intriguing alleys adorned with Chinese lanterns. One of these alleys, Ross Alley, is home to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. I thought this image would be perfect for a day-to-night transformation.
To achieve a night-time feel, I started by darkening the entire image. Next, I applied several masks to illuminate the lanterns, focusing on the ones in the center and a few on the left side of the image. Additional masks helped create the lighting effects on the ground. I also adjusted one of the signs behind the lights to give it a glowing effect from the lanterns. To complete the transformation, I replaced the overcast sky in Photoshop and converted the image to monochrome using Nik Silver Effects. Was definitely a fun project.
Canon R5
Canon RF 35mm f/1.8
1/80 sec at f/9.0, ISO 400
9 comments posted
Turning day into night is a bit of masking work as you discovered. I really like the alley scene and it looks great as a night time "shot".
I offer a couple of ideas that are really an interpretation of the available lights - so no right or wrong here. I darkened the alleyway further using a brush and a linear gradient, I added radial gradients below the lights you created and I placed on the each wall where the light above would spill on their surfaces.
Well done and you have inspired me try another scene
Regards
Emil Posted: 07/04/2025 13:53:46
It ain't easy to do this maybe because it takes repetitive images but the outcome can be quite amazing.
I think if you take one more pass you lift your scene up a heck of a lot.
It is always about the light
Regards
Emil Posted: 07/07/2025 20:30:08
Posted: 07/07/2025 23:08:01
I cropped a good part of the pavement in the foreground to focus more on the lighted part of the scene and then with a radial gradient in the middle darkened your scene even further. Posted: 07/13/2025 01:56:36
