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Chasing The Light (house) | Moeraki, Otago

We reached this remote spot on schedule, as the afternoon sun broke through rain clouds, painting the farmland gold. I'd been here many times before to photograph the lighthouse, and watch the Yellow-Eyed Penguins waddle ashore. And I had 'seen' how the lonely rural road snaked around the hill, providing a potential lead-in line. On this return visit, I knew exactly where I would shoot this photo from.

So, during the Golden Hour, I made a series of exposures on Aperture Priority mode.

Later, during the Blue Hour, I switched the DSLR to Bulb mode, and shot the light trails from six or seven passing vehicles.

Settings:Aperture: f/11 | Shutter Speed: 30 seconds | ISO: 100 | Focal length: 22mm Canon 5D Mark III, using an ND Grad filter from NiSi V5 kit [Click to see video review ] Computer Workflow: In Adobe Photoshop, I fused the best two images together using Exposure Blending techniques. This involved a bit of basic Luminosity Masking. In retrospect, I believe that a Blue Hour photo would have blended in better with the car light trails.

What do YOU think? Does this look natural? Please comment below.

Do your images look more like the first, original photo, with only minor processing done?

You can follow my tutorial on exactly how I tweaked this image on my landscape course online: LOCATIONZ

... or just enjoy our road trip video series on YouTube: EPISODE EIGHT | Moeraki & Dunedin

[ Are camera settings are still confusing? Enroll in my Discover Your DSLR course

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