IT DOES NOT ALWAYS GO ACCORDING TO PLAN - DO THE BEST WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

The long-range forecast had predicted overcast skies.  If you've been following me for awhile, you know I prefer cloudy days, as do a lot of photographers.  Obviously, the forecast was wrong.  Bright sunny day with patches of fluffy clouds.  And with the location about 3 1/2 hours away, there was nothing to do but try to make the best of it.  The forecast also indicated that the Japanese maples would be dressed in their brilliant red.  That too, was not the case.

I'm beginning to realize I get motivated with facing a challenge, particularly with photography.  So my idea of meeting the challenge was to rely on post-processing.  I know, ideally you want to capture the shot in the camera, but I don't live in a perfect world and software and plugins are there for a reason.

A push of the vibrancy slider, a tweaking of the saturation and luminance sliders and a little texturing rescued the day.