Just saw this thread today. Here’s my take-
- The pepper needed some TLC.- two instances of color balance RGB to color grade two different casts in the bright areas at the top.
- Toned down the background and left/right sides a bit. Not a vignette, but just to subtly move attention to subject.
- Modified filmic v6 used, with 0.35 threshold on highlight reconstruction.
- Guided Laplacian to tame the reflections on the pepper a tiny bit, though it is barely noticeable.
- Tone equalizer to bring down some overly bright highlights.
- Blur using diffuse/sharpen “simulate watercolor” in subtract blend mode to bring out some surface details. Then add a small exposure boost to bring the luminance back to the original level.