I don’t use RawTherapee, so I am a beginner just like you. But I was curious about its implementation, so I gave it a try. Takeaways:
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It is always helpful to toggle Before/After. I also zoomed in, enough to see the details but not to the point where I cannot see the overall composition.
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Read the tool-tips. Hover the mouse over things and a tool-tip pops up to give you info about the control. The tool-tips are surprisingly detailed. Good job RawTherapee devs.
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Unlike @shreedhar, I found Method:Low to be good because it heightens the detail of the far off city, which I like. I guess it depends on taste; which areas you want to emphasize.
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Process:Transmission reveals the transmission map, which is what is going on behind the scenes under settings. This will allow you to observe what changes as you tweak the controls and curves. Through experimentation, you will begin to understand what works for you.
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Transmission maps are like it sounds. Ask yourself this question: If conditions weren’t hazy, where would the light be? If you took this picture (I like it btw), you would have a good idea. The usual reason that
retinexlooks funny is that we tend to want to equalize everything.
These points are just from my experience. If I am wrong about something, someone please correct me.