Can I do anything to make this more "interesting?"

[thatone1967]

On the way to the Goodwood Revival yesterday, heading near Guildford, saw this, and stopped to take a photo, it looked incredible.
I find the picture completely underwhelming though, nothing like seeing the real thing, if that makes sense.
Can I do anything to edit it to improve it?

Untitled by Jim Pritchard, on Flickr

 

[Scirocco_09]

I don't think there is really - a longer lens often helps in these conditions but you need a focal point like a distinctive tree to frame the shot around. If I were there and couldn't find a focal point I'd probably have gone down into the mist and shot more intimate tree pictures

 

[stupar]

Purely working with the image you have the following are things i note.

1. There is too much sky and not a lot happening with it so you could lose some of it.
2. The foreground is too dark. You could try some shadow recovery but be mindful of noise creeping in. Kin exposing for the sky your foreground has taken a hit)
3.i would crop a smidge of the bottom to lose some of that hedgeline/tall grass as it is slightly distracting.

I have done a quick and dirty edit in Snapseed on the phone to show what i mean. I would re do it in the RAW file for maximum effect (assuming you shot in RAW)
Please note that this is only my opinion and it wont necessarily match that of others.

Note - just saw your exif in Flickr confirming you shot on an iphone so any editing to the original JPEG will be limited before image degradation starts to creep in.

 

[john.margetts]

One of the most important things to learn in photography is the difference between things that look good and things that make good pictures. I suspect this was an occasion when you should have left your camera alone and just enjoyed the view.

 

[arclight]

One of the most important things to learn in photography is the difference between things that look good and things that make good pictures. I suspect this was an occasion when you should have left your camera alone and just enjoyed the view.

Yes, a common problem whereby the brain converts a scene into something that pleases the eye, but the camera records the "raw" scene as it were. We all take shots that when viewed at home can be filed under "Why did I bother taking that"

Jim, you could try some drastic cropping.
Crop the sky out down to about 15mm above the hills and crop most of the grassland out.
Crop 2 cm off the LHS and 3 cmm from the RHS.

The sky and grass are virtually photographically dead in that shot and therefore detract from the area of interest which is the hills and trees separated by the mist. After cropping you can play about with shadow, brightness, contrast etc. I don't see any chance of a masterpiece in that shot (to be blunt - you cannot polish a turd), but you can improve it. Best of luck