Thoughts on this one?

I like the shot...yet, at the same time I feel like it's missing something. What are your thoughts?

I like the skies but the trees just don't seem to add much, maybe?

I like the rays coming down from the sky and I wish they were a little bit easier to see. I agree with chellyroo that the trees just don't seem right. Perhaps they just need to be lightened up a bit and made more vibrant.

Yeah, I'd love the rays to be more visible, too. I haven't found a good way to do that, though.

Snydremark wrote in post #8831830
Yeah, I'd love the rays to be more visible, too. I haven't found a good way to do that, though.

B&W and contrast grading would bring that out. But I don't think there is enough of a foreground element to make it worthwhile.

I agree with much of the above. Further, there's not enough of the trees: chopping into them halfway up just looks awkward, IMO, though it seems the rays converge towards the top edge, so a portrait orientation and/or wider focal length might have helped, reverting to rule-of-thirds placement for the horizon. The rays are interesting but relatively subtle, and it's a shame there's little colour or intensity variation throughout the sky. You did well to recognise and capture what was there, but it's not quite enough for a great shot. Cheers, Tony

Thanks for the input, all

The trees were cut off so high because there's a building right there that I didn't care for in the shot...but yeah.

Run through the Topaz Adjust filter, and some other mild color/exposure correction:

Huh...that's an interesting treatment. Topaz, hmmm?

Thanks!

Wider angle... more of trees.

The selection needs tweaking, but here's an alternative in PS:

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Some good stuff here, thanks all I'll keep tweaking with it and see what I can do.

I really like the second version

i think you should wait for the right light instead of fixing it up in PS...