Dwayne,
Yes, I am struggling with this one, and if you could help me out and let me know what you did that would be great.
good
-the comp (square works very well here)
-subject (great old tree and dock)
-light (very nice light coming off the tree trunk, dock, and rock/plants in the FG)
-the soft focus (works well here for tree and forest type shots)
nit
-image is under exposed, still room left in the histogram
-image is very flat lacks contrast
-a little detail boost would help
tweaks (made in Lightroom 3)
-set the correct exposure by moving the exposure slider to take up space left in the histogram
-moved the brightness slider to set the final exposure
-added some contrast boost using the contrast slider
-dodge (lighten) the great light coming of the tree trunk, dock and rock/plants in the FG
-dodge (lighten) some of the tree leave highlights
-added tad of global color saturation
-added a tad of USM sharpening to bring out the details
Hope this helps and thanks for posting, the simple version is: your soft-focus effect is very good
just increase your 1) exposure 2) add contrast 3) add a tad of USM sharpening as your last step
and you are there.
Take care,
Dwayne Oakes