teddY-risatioN™

In this part we will be looking at stacking nighttime photos on top of each other. The pre-requisite for this part is that you'll need 2 or more photos taken at the same angle so that the background will not change / blur out as you stack the photos on top of each other. Of course the best is photos taken using a camera seated on a tripod. If you want to try something more creative, you can also stack nighttime images of non-regular background.

Step 1 - Load Images

Step 2 - You'll Get This

In this example we will we using 2 photos of the same theme park ride taken a few seconds apart on a tripod. Of course if you have steady hands you can make do without a tripod haha! 

Step 3 - Make Some Adjustments

Basically whay I've done is just increasing the colour saturation, altering the colour balance by a little and placing a warm photo filter over both images. See the difference with the previous image?

Step 4 - Drag Image

Now you'll need to drag one of the image into the canvas containing another images. So I dragged the right image into the left canvas. Just left click and move your mouse cursor to the left. Alternatively you can drag the left image into the right canvas. It doesn't really matter. After dragging, nudge the image such that it fits perfectly on the canvas - exact positioning is very important!

Step 5 -  Create Layer From Background

Now we have 2 layers - but one is the background layer. We'll need to create a layer out of the locked background layer so that things will be easier so what you have to do is just to select the background layer, right click it and select Layer From Background… 

Step 6 - Detailed Steps

Here is a detailed flowchart showing you how to create a layer from the background layer. The new layer created from the background layer will most probably be named automatically as Layer 0.

Step 7 - Change the Blending Options

Now you'll need to change the layers' blending options. Select the layer and then select its blending options. Choose Screen. Note that the order of layers does not matter. Repeat this step for all other layers.

Step 8 - You'll Get This

Yippe! Now you've successfully blended the two layers together! Since it's a nighttime photos stacking 2 or 3 photos together will not over-expose the final image which is definitely a good thing because it saves some work. Here is the final photo:

And before we move on to the next part, here is a download link for the sample file (5.51mb):