Creating Rays of Light Through Stained Glass

[KevXman]

I had always wanted to do something with a stained glass setting. When the Modify the Light DSS Challenge came up I figured it was time to give it a shot. I spent most of my lunches at the National Cathedral in Washington DC that week trying to get the image that I had in mind with just the right exposure. Either the interior was just right and the window was blown out or the window was just right and the interior was too dark. After many attempts, and learning a few things about my camera (D300), I ended up using the multiple exposure tract. Here are the 4 exposure that I used to get to the final product.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822771_n5odU-M.jpg http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822666_pMyKv-M.jpg http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822719_awfpT-M.jpg http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822821_6DGAF-M.jpg

Working in Photoshop, I combined the first three and played with Layer Attributes, Exposure, Curves, Saturation, and Levels to get the interior look that I wanted. I also cropped at this time.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822881_8dtbd-L.jpg

As you can see, the window is still a little blown out.

I then took the darkest exposure, which was metered for the window, and masked out the stained glass.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551823081_Q9r9Z-M.jpg

Playing with the layer opacity and color saturation, I came up with what I felt looked good with the interior and window together.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551823170_JhQEu-L.jpg

Now for the part of this thread that you came for. I copied the window layer, applied the mask and applied a motion blur.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551823190_RPSVH-L.jpg

I ran the distance up as far as it would go, it still wasn't far enough for what I had in mind, and played with the angle until it was pointing in the direction that I wanted.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822609_D7Efw-L.jpg

I did the Apply Motion Blur 1 or 2 more times to get the distance on the sun beams that I wanted. Then I played with color saturation and layer opacity until I was satified that it didn't look too fake. According to some of the comments that I recieved at the time, I think I got pretty close, but it still needed a little tweaking. After some cloning, dodging/burning, and another slight crop, tah dah.

Illumination
http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/550350624_svxia-L.jpg

And there you have my "Creating Rays of Light Through Stained Glass". Thanks for looking.
— Kevin

[RalphAdam]

Well done! Thanks for sharing your technique!

[GoofBckt]

This is so great! Incidentally, I was in a church at dusk last night, trying like heck to get the right lighting, just as you described!! Now, I have something to try on my photos. Thank you! :)

I had always wanted to do something with a stained glass setting. When the Modify the Light DSS Challenge came up I figured it was time to give it a shot. I spent most of my lunches at the National Cathedral in Washington DC that week trying to get the image that I had in mind with just the right exposure. Either the interior was just right and the window was blown out or the window was just right and the interior was too dark. After many attempts, and learning a few things about my camera (D300), I ended up using the multiple exposure tract. Here are the 4 exposure that I used to get to the final product.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822771_n5odU-M.jpg http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822666_pMyKv-M.jpg http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822719_awfpT-M.jpg http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822821_6DGAF-M.jpg

Working in Photoshop, I combined the first three and played with Layer Attributes, Exposure, Curves, Saturation, and Levels to get the interior look that I wanted. I also cropped at this time.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822881_8dtbd-L.jpg

As you can see, the window is still a little blown out.

I then took the darkest exposure, which was metered for the window, and masked out the stained glass.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551823081_Q9r9Z-M.jpg

Playing with the layer opacity and color saturation, I came up with what I felt looked good with the interior and window together.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551823170_JhQEu-L.jpg

Now for the part of this thread that you came for. I copied the window layer, applied the mask and applied a motion blur.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551823190_RPSVH-L.jpg

I ran the distance up as far as it would go, it still wasn't far enough for what I had in mind, and played with the angle until it was pointing in the direction that I wanted.

http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/551822609_D7Efw-L.jpg

I did the Apply Motion Blur 1 or 2 more times to get the distance on the sun beams that I wanted. Then I played with color saturation and layer opacity until I was satified that it didn't look too fake. According to some of the comments that I recieved at the time, I think I got pretty close, but it still needed a little tweaking. After some cloning, dodging/burning, and another slight crop, tah dah.

Illumination
http://photosbykevin.smugmug.com/photos/550350624_svxia-L.jpg

And there you have my "Creating Rays of Light Through Stained Glass". Thanks for looking.
— Kevin

[Wil Davis]

V. impressive, thanks for sharing the secret :thumb

- Wil

[jjbong]

Did you shoot in raw? I'm wondering whether you could have done a similar thing from a single shot by using two different exposures in Camera Raw, or whether the detail is unrecoverable in any single shot. Since you didn't post the raw (I'm not even sure how you would do that), I can't experiment.

[KevXman]

Did you shoot in raw? I'm wondering whether you could have done a similar thing from a single shot by using two different exposures in Camera Raw, or whether the detail is unrecoverable in any single shot. Since you didn't post the raw (I'm not even sure how you would do that), I can't experiment.

There are different ways to get the interior to look right. Yes I was shooting in RAW but like I said, it was a new camera (to me) and I'm still learning RAW manipulation. I just went with what I knew would work for me. Like anything else in life, there are many different path to use to get to the same destination. Find one that works for you and use it. This thread was really geared toward showing how I got the sunbeams in the picture. Thanks for looking and asking questions.
— Kevin

[dadwtwins]

Great vision, i love your technique with this task.:clap