whatever you’ve got 
single shot with basic edits in LR then dodge, mask and warp within Photoshop
Dale, this is a nice shot with a lot of potential that can be enhanced via processing tweaks. This is a case of taking a good image up a notch via processing.
I basically like the concept of your composition, the rocks and pool are the stars here, and I like that you placed them in a diagonal flow. Starting from the LLC, the rocks go from left to right, then it switches back to right to left, which is very dynamic. IMO, I’d like to see a little more of the rocks to the right, it feels cramped there. And I could see a little less of the far left side, the water there is not as interesting as the rocks on the right. Since to me, the rocks and pool are the stars, I could see a crop from the top, which makes the foreground more prominent, and does not lose that much color in the sky.
I think the dynamic range could be better balanced here, the brightest parts of the sky are blown out, and I’d like to see a little more detail in the rocks. You did not say if you used a Grad ND filter here, but I would have done that, or bracketed exposures to blend them, this scene is beyond the dynamic range of your sensor / Lightroom. I think that white part of the sky is probably unrecoverable, unless you increased the exposure a lot in LR processing, in which case the raw file may still have it.
Regarding saturation, your most saturated colors are in the sky, pool, and rock highlights near the pool. Within Lightroom you can use the HSL saturation sliders to reduce saturation in these colors, use the TAT tool to pick the most saturated colors, and drag to reduce saturation. I prefer instead to use the TK Actions Panel Saturation masks to target the most saturated colors for adjustment. TK does a better job of targeting only the most saturated colors IMO.
I could also see dodging the highlights in the rocks (where they are already receiving light), to create a bit more definition/interest in the rocks.
This image has a good starting foundation, I think some re-processing work can take this image up a notch.
Dale,
No doubt a glorious moment on the coast and I think you did well in dealing with the intense colors. Actually, I think the color/saturation looks good. We’ve all been there, stood and watched those very intense colors in the sky. THEN, we come back later and have trouble (I know I do) matching what we think we remember vs. what tools and sliders are doing for us in PS. So, unfortunately I don’t have any tips for dealing with the saturation… other than to say hopefully you have a calibrated monitor and your “eye” and mind are such that you render the colors and saturation to be real. Honestly, I think you’ve done that here. Yes, the streak of highlights in the sky is one thing, but that has nothing to do with color or saturation.
Compositionally, I find coastal seascapes to be difficult if not often awkward to compose. Sometimes we’re so in awe with the scene we try and include it all. IMHO, either include less sky to emphasize the tidal pools, rock, reflections, etc., OR include less of the bottom to emphasize the glorious sky. Here I think you tried to have both. And to make it harder, as Ed points out the DR of the scene is pretty great. If it were mine I would crop a little off the top, drop the brightness a tad in the sky, and at the same time raise the luminosity in the tidal pools and rock for a little better balanced light. Agree with Ed too - you’ve got a great starting point.
Lon
Hi Dale. I love these edge of light images at junctions of different environments, they are difficult to get right. I tend to err on the side of naturalistic but I have always been loathe to messing about with other folks images as I believe the picture and its presentation is very personal to the owner so please take my suggestions with a pinch of salt including the suggested crops. I have a very simplistic approach to post processing images and basically I won’t spend longer than 5 minutes on any image I own, from all I have seen the best post processing is done by those that know exactly what they want to achieve and I am equally sure others more skilled than me could improve it further or might go a different route altogether. Never-the-less this seems to achieve what I would like to see in a reasonably naturalistic way (at least on my monitor) from your very pleasing seascape.
I find it to be a bit too upright an image ie vertically too long so I cropped it at points where I see no real additional benefit in keeping the uncropped componenets.
There do seem to be some saturation aspects where the colours have gone a wee bit OTT so I reigned them in a bit.
The lighting balance between sky and land seemed to be presented with too substantial a difference in that I found myself searching for the foreground detail with too much effort so I recovered it a little whilst maintaining saturation, structure, contrast and colour balance of the original.
Is it better than that originally presented? For me yes, I think it sings a bit more and the extra detail is sensitively revealed, is it close to what you saw? I hope so but please feel free to reject it verbally or remove altogether, my feelings will not be hurt.
Ian
Dale, these are pretty amazing conditions you were able to capture. I agree that the foreground is a bit too dark for my taste, although I wouldn’t have gone quite as far as Ian’s version on the rocks. If course this all comes down to personal taste. I do like the cooler hues in the sky at the top edge, and generally don’t see much of an issue in the sky saturation – other than maybe burning down the yellows a bit.
