Here is a challenging (for me anyway) photo with a large dynamic range. I have been experimenting with darktable 3.6, and especially the color balance rgb module. I am interested to see everyone’s take on this!
This one is my favourite, because the sky looks natural and the trees on the hill are a discernible green (as opposed to a dull grey in the NEF preview, and too dark to see in the other attempts so far).
First, I adjusted the exposure and black level correction to pop the details along the shore. Then, I used the tone equalizer to bring the sky’s exposure back down. Last, I tried the color calibration module’s “detect from area” on various areas in the clouds until I got this, which is already not bad:
From there, I first tried to use the color zones module (inspired by @arctic’s edits) to get more saturation and details in the trees and on the mountain slope. I got the nearer trees to be more green, but the mountain slope still lacks contrast. It could be a matter of learning and practice, but I found the color zones module to be unwieldy. The result: