How can this bright, foggy cityscape look be created?

Question

I saw a cityscape image with a very bright sky, glowing artificial lights, and buildings that look unusually evenly illuminated. It almost looks like a negative, but not quite. Is this likely to be created in-camera with exposure and atmospheric conditions, or by combining/editing multiple photos afterward?

user7603 · Answer

My guess is that this is a composite of two or more pictures. One was taken at night when the lights were on. This is where the artificial lights in the picture come from. Another exposure was taken when there was more daylight. This is where the light sky and illumination of large flat areas that weren't bathed in artificial light came from.

I disagree this is from a single long exposure at night. Such a single exposure does not account for the fact that many large and flat surfaces are evenly illuminated, which they almost certainly are not from the night-time artifical lights. For examples, see the concrete wall of the building in the lower left corner, or the one facing towards us and to the right of the building at the bottom and little left of center. These are way to bright and too evenly lit for artifical lights to be the illumination source. There also seems to be no plausible source for aritifical lights onto those surfaces.

How can this bright, foggy cityscape look be created?

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