Made With Luminar: Lurking in the Background

One of the real pleasures of photo-editing is working on older files. It’s like revisiting a moment. Pompeii was a place I had been interested in since childhood, so it was a big deal for me to visit. This photo is one of the ruins with Mt. Vesuvius in the background:

ISO 640 f/10 1/1600 sec 22mm

I wanted this particular edit to be a bit dreamy. Like a memory. The dreamy like feel almost but not entirely taking the edge off the reality that what created the ruins in the foreground is peacefully sitting in the background:

ISO 640 f/10 1/1600 sec 22mm

Does this work as a subtle horror image? My guess is only if you know the history of the area does it work in that way. Otherwise, it looks like a lovely sunny day. Your thoughts on this are welcome below.

Luminar filters applied, Denoise, Image Radiance, Matte Look, Orton Effect. Also added the LUT, 1960’s, set to 32%.

The Made with Luminar Series

This image is part of a project I am calling Made with Luminar. What the images in this series have in common is the software used to edit them, Luminar 3. As with my usual blog posts particulars of the camera settings can be found in the caption below the image. The text of these posts include the Luminar “Looks” that have been applied to the photo. Each look is a series of presets that are applied to the photo. Where applicable I will mention what changes I have made to any of the looks. A full explanation of looks is available here on their website, https://skylum.com/luminar/user-guides/chapter-14-working-with-luminar-looks

You can assume other edits have been applied. My most common edits are cropping, detail enhancement, and vignette. Specific questions or thoughts on the image are welcome in the comment section below.

Cheers!

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Creepy.