How to Create A Long Exposure Sunset Image Using Photoshop

• Color Levels: +15, 0, -15
• Tone Balance: Midtones
• Preserve Luminosity: Checked

Now, click on the “Create new fill layer or adjustment layer” and let’s make a Levels adjustment layer. When the box opens, input these values:

• Channel: Blue
• Input levels: 15, 1.00, 255
• Output levels: 0, 255

Next, let’s adjust the Brightness/Contrast; create a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and input the following values:

• Brightness: 6
• Contrast: 5

Let’s create another Gradient Map adjustment layer once again, use the same Gradient like what we used earlier. After choosing the Gradient, change the Blending mode to “Luminosity” and the Opacity to 70%.

Now to boost the Saturation or the overall strength of our image, we’ll be creating a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. From the “Create new fill layer or adjustment layer” pick Hue/Saturation and input these values as the box opens:

• Edit: Master
• Hue: 0
• Saturation: 5
• Lightness: 0

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Step 8 – Sharpening and saving as PSD

Before merging the layers or flattening the image, you may want to save it as PSD file so you may edit the image again in the future. After that, let’s sharpen the image. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen and input these values:

• Amount: 125%
• Radius: 1.0
• Remove: Gaussian Blur
• More Accurate: Checked

Now you may also sharpen it more by adjusting its light and its contrast. To do that go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp mask and input these values:

• Amount: 20%
• Radius: 50.0 px
• Threshold: 1 level

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Step 9 – Saving the file as a TIFF file and as a Jpeg file

After you’ve done the sharpening, you may flatten the image by right clicking on any layer and clicking Flatten Image. You may want to save it as a TIFF file first, which would allow you to do some quick changes to the image, like adjustment layers and fill layers without reducing its quality. You can view cracks in the image through the Histogram. Finally, save it as a .jpeg image.

Note: Over edited .Jpeg files would reduce the image’s quality, especially in print.

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Final Results

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Download the PSD

The Silent Sun.psd | 101 MB

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