Quick Tip: Use Photoshop to Turn Day Into Dusk
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Photoshop CS+
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Estimated Completion Time: 10 - 15 Minutes
Download Source Files
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
Taking photos at night is not an easy task. Photos taken without adequate lighting often look dim or grainy; they typically don’t look the same as what we see with our own eyes. That is why it is sometimes easier to convert a daytime photo to night using Photoshop than it is to try to take the same photo in the evening hours. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate a quick technique to make your photos look as if they were taken at night. Let’s get started!
Original Image
Before we begin, let’s take a look at the original image that we will be working from.
Step 1
Open your image in Photoshop. Now create a duplicate of the Background layer. Next we’ll be creating the filter stack which will help us preserve the picture’s details while darkening it. Now convert the duplicate layer to Smart Filters (Filter > Convert for Smart Filters) so that we can edit the filters whenever we need to.
Step 2
This image shows the Filter Gallery with a stack of filters in the lower right panel of the window. This is just an example of how a filter stack looks like – some of you probably didn’t even know that you can do this. We’ll be creating our own stack in a minute.
Step 3
Now, open the Filter Gallery (Filter > Filter Gallery) and we’ll begin making the filters stack. As a note, you could also do this by applying individual filters on the layer, stacking them in the Layers Palette, but I prefer to use this approach because I think it’s quicker this way, and probably because it has a lower impact on memory usage as well.
Next, make sure you clear the stack if you have used it before by clicking the Trash icon at the bottom of the stack panel until you only have a filter left in the stack.
Step 4
It’s time to get messy. For the first item in the stack, choose the Accented Edges filter from the Brush Strokes category. This will accentuate the picture’s edges, preserving its details while darkening. The values used are as follows: Edge Width: 2, Edge Brightness: 38, Smoothness: 5.
Step 5
Next, add a new item in the stack by clicking on the button next to the Trash icon you clicked earlier to empty the stack. This will duplicate the first filter and will be added above it. Now choose the Dry Brush filter from the Artistic category, and give this filter the following values: Brush Size: 6, Brush Detail: 9, Texture: 1. This will help us darken the photo.
Step 6
Finally, add a last item in the stack – Crosshatch from the Brush Strokes category, with the following values: Stroke Length: 9, Sharpness: 6, Strength: 1. This last item will sharpen the other two filters.
Right now, it doesn’t look very promising (check the image below), so we need to fix this. Make sure the smart filter layer is selected and from the Blending modes choose Linear Burn, and then give it a 40% opacity.
Step 7
Now it looks better, but it doesn’t look much different from the original. But after applying some adjustment layers, you’ll see that these filters have a big impact on making it look like it was really shot during the evening.
The first adjustment layer that we’re going to create is Brightness/Contrast. Give it a brightness of -50 and a contrast of 0.
Step 8
Next, add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer with a saturation of -20 (the other two controls must be 0). Now add an Exposure adjustment layer with an exposure value of -0.45, an offset of 0 and make sure Gamma is set to 1.
Step 9
Wait, there’s something more to add. Add a Vibrance adjustment layer with a vibrance of +20 and 0 saturation. Finally, add a Levels adjustment layer, then select the Red level from the Levels dialog and give it the following values: 0, 0.91, 255. Do the same thing for the Blue level with these values: 0, 0.79, 255. The final result is below!
Additional Example
In this example I’ve used a value of 40% for the layer’s opacity. This value of 40% will be used for large images and landscape pictures (and I’m not referring to the page orientation). In case of a portrait or a small picture, you should use a value of 15%.
Before applying the effect.
After applying the effect.
Download the Action
We have provided the action for this tutorial in the Extras folder for this tutorial’s download which is available exclusively to Psd Premium Members.
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By Ursan Razvan
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That’s hardly day to night
totally agree
tHIS DINT WORKS LIKE YOU SAZ
Since when does DUSK mean NIGHT? The tut clearly says “Day into Dusk” and if you really think about it a dusk photo is a underexposed photo.
Also, this is, first, a QUICK TIP and secondly, a beginner tuts. Chill out.
first off, no one was mad, just saying it doesnt look any different, just underexposed. if it was “dusk” then there should be some orange glow from the sun set and other aspects that make it look like dusk. and to say a dusk photo is underexposed is not really correct. so, before getting upset and thinking we are mad and being mean or something, you should chill out yourself. just seen better tuts for this sort of thing, and this is not one of them IMO.
@adrian,
I read this when it first came up, and I swear to you, the title said “Day into Night” not “Dusk”. They obviously switched it when I and everyone else started telling them that this doesn’t look anything like night, and that they could make this with a simple curves adjustment, or brightness contrast adjustment, or exposure adjustment, or levels adjustment.
So many ways to do this in one simple step.
Also, I’m not upset or angry with the tut (that wouldn’t make any sense)… calm down dude.
I was calm, it’s just that for most beginners a lot of techniques at once in a tut is overwhelming.
When I read it it said dusk. Its true, thought, that the poster could’ve added some orange and a few more elements for realist. But for a beginner its a “quick tip”
Also since the editor agreed to post his tut for beginners it should be ok.
A lot of us started with no photoshop experience right here on psdtuts. And its clear that a lot of us have advanced and want more complex tuts. But there are others out there with no experience and they need to learn too.
Adi.
very nice thanks lot
I agree with AEVION… just looks like an underexposed photo.
I don’t get it, is it just me or does the final image look like someone just turned the brightness down?
Hardly turning it into night, in my opinion anyway.
I don’t see how the final result is “night”.
Coool, i am first commentator. Great web, great tuts, great web network. Awesome.
I agree with AEVION. I honestly don’t see the night at all, it’s looks more like a gloomy day. The sky is way too bright to be night.
Some pointers:
1. Darken the sky by a lot.
2. Hills or mountains in the horizon should be almost or totally invisible at night.
3. Because this is an open area with not much light to illuminate with, the trees should be very dark.
References are always good to understand how things look or work. In my personal opinion this is an incomplete tutorial. I’m not trying to put you down, Razvan, I just think that there’s more work to be done in order to make it look like a night scene.
Title should be: “how to turn down the exposure”
Unless you live in some alternate solar systems with two suns, this looks nothing like “night”…. You obviously don’t get out much.
This is one of the best comments I’ve read in a long time! hahahahaha!
Why are some of you guys such idiots? it says Day to Dusk, not night.
FAIL.
yup
i tried
couldnt see a night photo
i’m a newbie but sometimes i turn day photo into night too, i turn it by using just the curve and levels
i didn’t use any brush(except the light) and filters.
can anyone tell me (+/-) form my way and this way
this is not new :).
Don’t focus yourselves too much on the title.
Focus on the steps and method used to create a certain effect.
second example is a lot better
Title edit “Quick Tip: Use Photoshop to Turn Day Into Early Evening” haha.
The tutorial isn’t that bad. but don’t call it something it’s not.
Thanks for this tutorial .Let’s take it to the next step. Suggestions on how to make the lights appear lit!
Quick Tip: Use Photoshop to Turn Day Into a badly exposed image with a rebel an a 80.00 lens
QUE tutorial mais iniciante. Na minha opinião. eu esper mais do PSD TUTS
For starters…. I think most of you who commented need to pick up a dictionary. The word “Dusk” means:
The state or period of partial darkness between day and night; the dark part of twilight. 2. partial darkness; shade; gloom.
Where does it say that Dusk means night?
I do feel better wording could have been used for the title, because it is slightly miss leading though….
Mike, to be fair, the original title of the post was:
“Quick Tip: Use Photoshop to Turn Day Into Night”
As seen in my Google Reader header:
http://drp.ly/ZDhcD
Ahh, that makes sense. Sorry if I offended anybody.
I still do feel better wording could have been used either way.
I think you’ll find, Mike, that the title was changed after those comments were made.
I hate to be a nay-sayer, but I’ve got to add my voice to the dissent on this one. This doesn’t look like night. Maybe you just chose poor examples to do this on, but it really just looks like you underexposed a photo. Not the kind of quality I expect from PSDTuts.
Great tut, thnak you!!
Meh.
I agree with AEVION also.
In addition, a Day to Night conversion tutorial was done on this site already. Search it up.
Wow, that’s really crappy.
Wtf is wrong with you guys, it says “FAKE EVENING” in the thumbnail, where did you get NIGHT? Though im not fan of the outcome, it looks a little like evening. So stop whining.
The overall effect is great. The one flaw and my only gripe is the sky. It is simply too bright for dusk. Yes, Mike, I do know that dusk does not mean night, but neither does it mean “toned down mid-day bright.”
I think you would just simply do : Image > Adjustment > Exposure for 5 seconds?
And with this tip, you can not apply to every photos. Better just do the adjustment things to get a better result. Because it’s fast and controllable.
@aMs: the title first said “turn day into night”, that is what all the comments refer to.
In my mind, even with the changed title this tutorial is absolutely NOT worth this website.
Hi there all,
When my tutorial was put online, I could see that the title wasn’t mine. I didn’t try to achieve a day to night effect at all, but only a fake evening effect. The original title was “How to make your photos look like they were taken at evening”. But it was pretty long I guess… So, once again, there’s no night concept in this.. it’s just turning your photos into fake evening photos. And btw, just adjusting some exposure or adding some curves (like some said) wouldn’t be enough for this effect.
yeah, maybe you’re right, but the final result make me think it is cloudy not dusk, in my place, dusk is still dark and the sky is about orangish
*Facepalm*
Dusk != Night, people…
The final product is a bit underwhelming for sure. I think the use of adjustment layers had more to do with the final effect than any of the filters. That being said, how many of you already knew how to use smart filters before reading through this tutorial? Let’s cut him some slack. There’s a lot of good information you can take from this tutorial, even if the final product in this case doesn’t leave your jaw on the floor.
I think that this is a start, but if you were getting a dusk look wouldn’t they sky be more of an orange color/yellow as if the sun were setting?
By far the worst tutorial ive seen on psdtuts.
Looks like a lot of effort to get a photo that looks underexposed…
It actually looks more like a large cloud rolled in front of the sun instead of dusk.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s cool, just sayin.
For the people saying “it’s supposed to be dusk”, it still doesn’t look like dusk! Probably the worst tutorial I have seen on this site.
this tuts isn’t that bad, with this tuts, i can change sunny day to rainy day with this tuts + rain brush
In my opinion shooting night shots it a lot better than day, you have a lot more control over your exposure than the drastic lighting of a bright sunny day. Set up your camera on a tripod and you can get some pretty dynamic imagery. Getting it right out of the camera is much better than doing it in photoshop.
But I guess it wouldn’t be a photoshop tutorial then ;)
Wow !
sak tuts
Dude, this tutorial sucks
I could’ve done better with the levels or curves :/
…psdtuts is not what it used to be :[