A Lucca Blur

[Cheryl Slechta]

I've finally gotten through editing my images from Venice (I've got plenty more to post here) and I've started on my stay in Lucca before I headed home. We had cloudy, rainy days a lot so I decided to spend some time doing long exposures with my new Olympus to see how it handled them. This one was taken on the wall (ramparts planted with gorgeous trees) that surrounds the old part of Lucca. I started in LR with -100 Clarity, then in PS added a cloud texture in the Multiply Blend mode over a duplicate Screen layer. I then added a custom recipe in Nik CEP, added Film Grain and then did a Levels Adjustment back in PS.
Thanks for looking

[Dennis Bishop]

Your blurs are so good. This is not only visually attractive (for a number of reasons), but there's a wonderful sense of mystery -- about what's there and about how you achieved the image. Wonderful.

[Nancy Bell]

Very stunning! Love the blurred lines and those blues! I believe that lighter area in the lower right is the city, but it is not clear enough to really understand. With the rest of the image so strong and eye catching, maybe not include this lighter area? Or adjust it differently?

[Diane Miller]

Amazing! I might crop some from the right and clone out the rest of the lighter area. It doesn't seem to fit the lovely mood.

[Anita Bower]

Love it! This forum is teaching me to like blurs, at least some of them.
The broken lines of the trees seem to be reaching up and out.
Love the blue sky texture--stormy.
The whole image has a dramatic feel to it.
I agree that the lighter area in lower right distracts from the drama. I wouldn't crop, as I find the composition just right, but maybe clone.
How do you save your images when travelling?

[Wendy Kates]

I love the blues of this image, as well as the contrast with the trees. The whole mood is very mysterious...very effective.

[gary ellwein]

Cheryl, I am in the crop from the right and raze the city camp. The crop would reduce the relatively large bright spot on the right. My eye is drawn to the area. I particularly like your use of the cloud texture. The subtle blend of colors and varied pattern of light and dark work. I have spent some time with the image. I wonder if this is what a doughboy in Belleau Wood saw in the light of dawn. Must up my dose of antidepressant.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thank you all for your comments. Here was my thinking - I thought of the city below still wreathed in light as the ominous storm overhead approaches. (Or the reverse, the city has emerged from the storm and is enjoying a peak of sunshine). So I don't want to eliminate the bottom corner. It probably helps that I've been there and know there is a city below but anyway that was my thought process. I did redo the bottom to add a little bit of clarity to the buildings and decrease the contrast of the darker lines there. Also I cropped a little from the bottom to eliminate the part of the city scene that I didn't like. Gary, that is a insightful observation about Belleau Wood.

[Dennis Bishop]

I agree about not getting rid of the lower right. It's an important part of the way I see the image. Because it seems that some people think it's distracting over there by itself, I was wondering earlier today about adding variations of it intermittently across the bottom, but I'm perfectly happy with the way you have it.

[Anita Bower]

The important thing is how you see this image and what meaning it has for you.