NORMAL LIFE: A Car's Evolution In The Digital Darkroom

My photography course continues to go well and, in the absence of natural blurring, I managed to go create the following image using the following process.

1. I took this image on a miserable Friday afternoon as I left the office (taken manually at F/3.5, 1/40sec, 17.30mm). Post-shutter, the image appears gloomy, dark and lacking in contrast.

2. I looked up the histogram and it was clear that the pixels were geared towards the darker end so, using Levels adjustment, I adjusted the levels and then added back some saturation.

3. After cropping the image, I used the Gaussian Blur function to completely blur the image, then erasing the parts that I wanted to remain in focus e.g. the car.