Star Light, Star Bright

On Saturday night, after a wonderful, cozy day in the house, we got ourselves out to go into Monza – I wanted to capture the lights. I must be honest, I wasn’t feeling too inspired by them. I know, shocking, but even with me sometimes that happens. So I played around with creating some intentional bokeh by shooting out of focus. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the two images side-by-side in the computer, out of focus and in focus, that I really got excited. Sometimes something new just hits you out of the blue – I wondered if I could combine them for an interesting effect. What you see above is the result, and I love it.

Here’s how I did it…I started with the “out of focus” bokeh photo in Photoshop Elements, this one:

Then I pulled the “in focus” one in, this one, as a layer above the “out of focus” photo:

I combined them by using a blending mode of soft light, at 75%. Finally, I stretched and tilted and adjusted the “in focus” photo until the stars closely overlayed the “out of focus” ones. These were taken handheld, so while they were taken from the same location and angle with the same zoom, they are slightly different compositions and needed to be matched up. If I had used a tripod (heaven forbid!), I would not have needed this last step.

I tried lots of different blending modes and opacities, they all came out slightly different – the one I’m sharing today is the one I liked best. Let me know what you think!

I interrupt my regularly scheduled participation in 9 Muses Musing because I wanted to share this photo for Sweet Shot Tuesday and Touch Up Tuesday. And, to be honest, I also didn’t have anything specific in mind for today’s prompt of FAMILY. Be sure to stop by and see all the other shared stories on FAMILY at Mortal Muses though! Tomorrow’s prompt is CANDLE.

17 Comments to Star Light, Star Bright

AJ
December 21, 2010 8:49 am
Great edit!

Angie Willis
December 21, 2010 8:55 am
Wow – you're so clever! This is amazing. I'm thinking of all the out of focus photos I've taken – most of them and how I can turn them into masterpieces. That's me busy for Christmas!

Mom to 9 Blessings!
December 21, 2010 11:06 am
Beautifully done

Merry Christmas!
Jill
http://fnaphotography.blogspot.com

Puna
December 21, 2010 11:12 am
So interesting! Thank you so much for the tutorial!

Joni
December 21, 2010 12:39 pm
that is really neat. i love it!

Gardening in a Sandbox
December 21, 2010 12:44 pm
Really fabulous technique. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Kaye Swain - SandwichINK for the Sandwich Generation
December 21, 2010 2:16 pm
Very interesting photo and how to! I love my easy to use digital camera combined with Picknik, which is also easy to use. During my current season of life, that's the perfect "speed" for me. But someday, I would love to delve into Photoshop so I really appreciate these tips.

justine
December 21, 2010 2:23 pm
I love how you have done these.

Sheri
December 21, 2010 2:49 pm
Wow. What a neat idea.

lisa
December 21, 2010 3:48 pm
So nicely done Kat, and it is beautiful!

Kristin Dudish
December 21, 2010 3:58 pm
Beautiful – I love the composition!

xo
Kristin

Susan
December 21, 2010 5:40 pm
Awesome!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Kristy
December 21, 2010 9:24 pm
very merry!

dille2@cableone.net
December 21, 2010 11:23 pm
All bokeh is good! Love it!

Jamie
December 22, 2010 12:01 am
Wow – I love this idea. Beautiful

Michelle
December 22, 2010 3:46 pm
Awesome idea! I took some Christmas light pics last week and liked my bokeh shots better then the in-focus ones… but thanks to you, I may need to play around and combine some of them… Thanks!

~Michelle

kristin
December 23, 2010 12:47 am
i love the bokeh versions so much. yes looking up is very good this time of year.