This is an iconic view of downtown Minneapolis taken from the old 24th Street Pedestrian Bridge over I35W. The streaks of tail and head lights point to the awaking city. Their leading lines pull you into its heart. I like the balance of tonality. The softness is the calm before the morning meetings start. Right now it is peaceful. I can smell the coffee brewing.
My friend and I got up at 4:00 am on July 18, 2017. We wanted the catch the streaming tail lights of the morning traffic (25 sec exposure) and then we waited around for the “Golden Hour” when the sun to cast some light on the buildings to give depth to the image.
I combined the car trails from 4 or 5 exposure in Photoshop to compensate for the low flow of traffic that morning. I played with the normal enhancements of shadows, highlights, tonality and color in Lightroom. I used Nik software to add selective lens flare to the street lights. I used masking in Photoshop to limit it to just the street lights.