Please take a look

[dctread]

Hi everyone, back once more. I took this shot while taking one of my photo walks. The scene looked nice at the time and I think still does, but I think it's lacking that pop/drama. Most of my shoots are looking the same. Just kind of there. this was taken in the afternoon about 2pm and there were long shadows, but I guess that wasn't enough. Is there something I'm missing in post. All I really use is LR3. Thank in advance.

EXIF
Shutter: 1/350
Aperture: f/8
Exp. Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Pattern
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 55mm

[Doug Sundseth]

Mid-afternoon isn't ideal, of course, but I don't think that's your primary problem.

What did you intend for viewers to notice about the scene you captured?

If it was some detail in the scene, you need to compose your photo to emphasize that detail. You could do this with limited depth of field, moving or zooming much closer to the important detail, changing your shooting height to place the subject more prominently, or the like.

If it was the general feel of the place, you probably need to go quite a bit wider so that your viewer gets more context and a better feel for the sweep of the terrain. For this type of photo, I'd usually start with a landscape orientation rather than a portrait orientation.

As it stands, your photo is neither fish nor fowl and suffers for that.

[flytyer57]

On such a bright day, why did you shoot with an ISO of 400?

To fix this shot, to get the pop you're looking for, try bumping up the saturation.

I can also see some ghosting around the trees at the skyline. Not sure what caused that, but you might want to consider that in pp.

[EOBeav]

We need a subject here!

Also, +1 about time of day. Unless you're going to convert to b/w.