Editing based on comments - post work or in Daz work?

Gemini Queen

I recently post this picture on my FB page to see what people thought about it cause I was trying to see what I could do to make it better. The first comment that I got on it was this - 

More contrast in the green area; to show greater depth and that show sunlight on trees

I did try to go onto youtube to find some videos on how to create contrast in the images, but most of what I found was common do's and don'ts about lighting in general. I'll be honest, I'm not a very good artist, but I did look up the definition of lighting, and sort of get how it should look. But until I get better at it, I'll post here about it. How would I create the contrast that they're talking about and is it something that should be done during Daz work or during post work? I'm fairly new to GIMP, so that's where that's at as well. 

 

Gemini Queen

I'm working on multiple comments on it at a time, and the second one that I got was that I needed some variation in the trees. What I'm using for the trees is the EM - Aspen Billboards And Forests cause using individual trees would take up a lot of RAM. I tried using instances, but I'm not good a placement (working on it). 

RexRed

In Daz render settings there is tone mapping and that is post work you can do within Daz.

But tone mapping works globally so if you add contrast to the trees it will also add contrast to the sky.

That can add or detract from the effect you want in the sky.

You can render the sky and trees separately then add contrast post work to each separately then reunite them in Photoshop layers.

Go to YouTube and look for videos on "Daz Canvases"  Canvases are quite complex to work with but if you learn them well you can do wonderful things!