Long-exposure look for a night city

This prompt adds smooth light trails from traffic on a road or bridge, soft glow on the lights and smooth water or sky, while keeping the buildings sharp and the scene realistic.

photo-night-city-long-exposure — gemini — 44 words

Turn this night city photo into a long-exposure look. Add smooth light trails from the traffic on the [ROAD / BRIDGE], soft glow on the lights, smooth water or sky, and remove moving cars as solid objects.

Keep buildings sharp and the scene realistic.

Edit in the builder Copy & open Gemini ↗Copy & open ChatGPT ↗

Use a photo with a road or bridge in it for the most convincing light trails.

Your photo goes to the AI app you choose, never to PromptUp.

Get a better result

What you will get

Your night photo with smooth light trails from traffic, a soft glow around the lights, silky water or sky, no solid cars and buildings still sharp.

Why it works

Long exposures turn moving cars into light trails while buildings stay still, so the prompt asks for both. Smooth water or sky and a soft glow on lights complete the look. A road or bridge in your photo, as the tip says, gives the trails a path.

Common mistake

The trails do not follow the road.

Fix: Name the road or bridge and its direction, so the streaks follow the real curve of the street.

Also watch for

Ghostly car shapes remain. Ask for all moving vehicles to be replaced by trails, and check parked cars separately.
Buildings are smeared. Say that only moving things blur and the architecture stays crisp, as a tripod photo would.

Try a variation: make a rain version

Ask for wet roads, coloured reflections of the trails and a few faint raindrops in the air.

Still not right? Reply with this

Make the light trails longer and smoother along the road, keep the buildings sharp and add a soft glow around each street light.