... I also wish the mountain peak would be centered, but in the 3:1 ratio...
The b&w version above is quite close to that (i.e., centered in the 3:1).
I see the point about centering. At the same time, I hate losing that sense of grandeur that the wider panorama has. I print on large canvas, and the ratio is often dictated by available sizes.
As for more contrast and saturation, the OP image already had that boosted for the row of golden trees in the middle ground and the mountain range. The foreground has been simultaneously darkened as to lead the eye toward the middle ground and the opening in the sky.
However... I was reluctant to overdo it, for the following reasons:
- making the middle ground too contrasty and saturated would attract too much attention to it, instead to the mountains and the crack in the clouds
- it was really stormy and cloudy where I was standing, and the foreground and middle ground were in the shade even when the sun illuminated the clouds. Things in the shade always tend to have lower contrast and saturation; boosting it might lead to an unnatural feel, almost like the dreaded (nuclear) HDR
- the perception of lightness, contrast and saturation depends on the image size and/or viewing distance. Seen bigger, as in a 20"x 60" print, or even full-screen, we tend to examine image segments as we do in nature, i.e., the eye selects a detail and adjusts accordingly.
...Out of curiosity, where do you order your canvas prints from?
CG Pro Prints.