I am working on doing a better job of incorporating a subject in my landscapes. I am learning that even if the view is breathtaking in person someone viewing it as a photograph needs a focus. Baby steps. I would very much appreciate any CC on this latest. It's a common location for me as it is my front yard so it's easy but trying to look at it from this new perspective of having a subject, in this case a tree..........at Sunset:)
Its a nice shot. It does feel over processed and over saturated. Trees and grass have an oversharpened and nuked green feel. The sky is also way too busy. Besides that the composition is pleasant and this is a heck of a nice yard view.
I think doing a sky replacement with something flatter and toning down the detailing and saturation will help the shot a lot.
Probably the main issue here is the lack of separation, as the bottom branches of the main tree blend into the background trees. Coming a bit closer and lowering the camera to the ground could've helped. Also a better light might change everything. The sky is good but the light on the tree is flat, probably it might look better if it were backlit from the setting sun.
Overall the place itself isn't probably very good as the tree is too far from the pond. Your mind sees it in 3D and also adds emotions, but a 2D photo loses a lot of information and we need to put some effort to convey the feelings and impressions through 2D photography, and it's in fact a tough and narrow communication channel that turns breathtaking views into mundane pictures.
Thanks Michael and Francisco. The camers was 3" off the ground so moving closer would be the solution. Still working on easing up on the saturation and clarity sliders then they go and add the texture slider LOL. I like the sky as to me the clouds are a leading line to the tree. Coming back on the blues may help reduce some of the distraction.
Yeah I can tell you went ham on the knobs. You've aggressively oversharpened your image. It also looks like you blasted your image with too much dehaze.
The clarity knob is very strong, once you push it past 20 things can start to get funky. I believe the texture slider is basically a very subtle clarity slider without contrast, and even with texture you really shouldnt add more than a touch of it in most cases.
Are you using a decent monitor? That can be another issue, you might not be accurately seeing what you're doing to your image.