If you’re heading out to shoot at night – perhaps to capture stars or city scenes – then don’t forget to take a torch with you. Not only will you need it for practical reasons, but also as a light to lift parts of the scene.
Simply set up your camera on a tripod and set an exposure that lasts for a few seconds, then fire the shutter and use your torch to paint different parts of the nocturnal scene.
Here it allowed us to light the tree from the side, while shooting a series of 30-second exposures for a star trail image (each frame blended with the Lighten mode just as we’ve done in the three steps above).