Sunday in Venice

I don't always know how an image will turn out when I first click the shutter, and this is one of those images.  That happens to me often.  I'll see  composition, or colors, or balance of picture elements or maybe all that and start moving around and shooting a scene; up, down, left, right, changing the placement of elements in different parts of the frame.  Basically exploring the area and what it has to offer.  Then it's off to the computer and the digital darkroom where I may see exactly what I want,  or it may take more time and more exploring before I see the image I want.  I have great respect for those photographers who take their images right from the camera and keep it "pure".  But most of the time I want to do more, instilling my own vision and creating my own interpretation of the original capture.


This was shot along a side canal in Venice, Italy, in late May (we went to Italy in May thinking we would avoid the heat and crowds - think again!).  I very much liked the serene stillness of the water, the colors and texture of the walls and the composition of wall, boats and bridge leading left to right through the image.  But for several months I could not pull the colors, textures and emotion I wanted from the photograph.  So I started futzing around with some of the different PhotoShop plug-in filters I have, most notably Topaz Adjust, and removed some of the details in the image (called "simplifying")  and made color and texture changes.  And this is the final result.  I am often amazed at what can be done in the digital darkroom and am very happy with these results.