I have photographed this river scenery a few times. I do not know if this landscape can be improved (by describing different times of the year, different times of day, etc.) or what can I do otherwise? I'm waiting for the birds, but never they were not when I'm filming with my camera. Both pictures are panoramas (+hdr).
One thing that caught my eye in the first image is the halo around the trees to the right. I'm guessing that you introduced the Sun rays with Luminar 18...maybe overdone.
The second image has trees in focus and trees blurred. The blurring looks like it was done with the Brush Tool and seems overdone only because other parts of the scene are in sharp contrast.
The first image has great potential. Maybe lighten up on the processing just a little. If I were shooting that scene, I would have probably had an ND filter to allow for a bit more exposure instead of using the HDR process.
I might have also tried a shot at f16 just to see if I could get some natural diffraction spikes from the Sun.
Thanks for the comments and instructions David, I'll take it next to the ND filter and reduce the aperture.
Trees are problematic because the exposure time is long and the branches move in the wind. If the time is shortened, all trees will be too dark. It is difficult to restore natural light in post-treatment.
I agree with David's take on these. The processing is a little too heavy. Shooting directly into the sun is always going to be problematic, especially if you don't want silhouettes. It's nice light, but the scene is a little too busy, I think you may be trying to capture too much. I'd look at zooming in on some of the details. In the 2nd pic especially, I think there is a simpler shot in the center of the image with just the far trees, river w reflection, and the sun.