Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Here's Stockholm, Sweden at sunset. As you can see it very cold, the river is frozen. The photograph is interesting but lacks impact. Your challenge is to give the image impact.
To help members who struggle with visualizing the changes you need here are a few tips.

1. The sky area and the frozen river area are more or less the same size. This is a no-no, crop one or the other to draw the viewers eye to the focal point.

2. The tallest building in the old city is just off center. Another no-no if it is the point of interest. Crop one side or the other of the image to place it in a more eye catching position. Think of Rule of Thirds; The Golden Mean; Rule of Fifths; etc,. Rules are not set in concrete, place it where you thing it looks best.

3. The sky lacks detail. You may improve the sky or replace it. Your choice. The sun is setting behind the tallest buildings.

4. The ice on the river has some detail but it cold be improved. Should the ice reflect the color of the sky? Check on line to see how ice looks in the best images. Search Shutterstock.com or Google images.

5. Is the city too small? Do you need to zoom in on it?

6. Do not have two areas competing for attention. One area or object should be dominant. Everything else serves to aid impact.

Have at it any way you want. We need an image with IMPACT or the WOW factor.

PLEASE do not comment until you have posted your interpretation of the image below.

No RAW file. The .png file will be fine.

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Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

Thanks for the new Challenge Shakey.
This is my interpretation of your instructions and how I went about it.

First thing I did was to make the buildings stand out buy adjusting standard setting whites, contrast, saturation and such.
Next was to find a new sky that I felt fit the mood of the sun getting lower in the day but not set yet. Made a mask and applied that change.
I had trouble figuring out what you were looking for on the water. So I cloned the left half or so and applied it to the right and blended.

AT this point I flattened image so I could make global changes.
I lowered the exposure overall. Added a desaturation layer with mask and lowered the blue in all the snow areas. Then made one more curves layer for final look.

I made a final crop 16 x 9 ratio. Now looking at it I might have taken a bit more off the bottom because of your instructions, but I am fighting it. I need to see what others do on this crop part.

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Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Excellent interpretation, Jim. You could have cropped a little off the bottom but it's debatable. The snow looks like snow, the ice looks like ice, the sky is a winter sky, the colorful buildings add impact. Your choice of a 16X9 ratio crop works well.
I think you have got the hang of this, by golly. Five thumbs:

Note for members: I have nothing against a different crop ratio. It's your interpretation I want to see.

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

Thanks Shakey, I really thought you would give me hard time on the crop but I didn't like anything I was trying so use this one.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

My tweaks seem to have resulted in a completely different look . You haven't said that's not allowed....

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Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

You are correct, R.G. This interpretation is yours and wide open. The way you gave predominance to the ice is clever thinking. It looks good. The severe crop works well. The snow looks good. The sky is borderline for severe cold, but acceptable if you imagine the snow clouds have passed and the remnants are passing. (There is a title there somewhere.) On clicking Download the bold colorful buildings add the elusive WOW factor.
Yep, that image has impact. Five thumbs:

Note: as a point of interest here in Europe approaching snow clouds have a pinkish hue at the edges. I was told that and actually saw it. Never noticed it at home in NC.

davefales Loc: Virginia

I like what you did but the sky reflection on the ice seems wrong.

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

I have to agree with you on this point. I didn't like the water highlights on the lower right in the original picture as it was drawing to much attention to that area. After the cloning I did do some blur work to muddle the incorrect building reflections. I think your point is well taken and the best fix would be to crop a little more off the bottom.
Thanks for taking a look and commenting.

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

Throwing my hat into the ring. I didn't want to go too crazy with the saturation. I hope i could convey a cold winter day.

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Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

I decided to play around with this using Luminar since I just purchased it.

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Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Yep, you got the cold winter day, NJ. However, your crop left a lot to be desired. That ugly yellow patch ruins the image. You let your adjustment tools run away with you. The sky is not bad except for the diagonal line, which adds nothing to your interpretation. There is no obvious focal point, this means you did not think about what you were doing. You can do way better than this. You get three thumbs my friend.

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Congratulations on you purchase, Revet. Now you need to practice with it. The sky is acceptable. The snow is blue, and the ice on the left is reflecting a blue sky that is not there. That ugly yellow patch shows how you let your adjustment tools run away with you. You cropped the way you wanted but it was not a good choice. You can do so much better than that. Maybe you rushed things with your new software. I'm sure you'll do better.
Three thumbs today my friend.

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

Thanks Shakey.
I made a couple of additional adjustments. In your opinion am I headed in the right directions?

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Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

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Well done, NJ. Now you are making your work sing. Way better than your first attempt.
I'll give you five thumbs for effort.

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

Thank again for your time and analysis. One in awhile I can follow directions.