How it was done

This is a brief, and basic, tutorial of how this image was created.  As you can see, snapping the shutter button is only half the battle!  

The RAW image...

I always shoot in RAW mode, which tells the camera to capture the image with basic information right from the sensor.  It gives a flat, muted image without any camera processing.  This in turn starts you off with the cleanest possible file.

Next, it's time to send it to the computer.

Adobe Lightroom

Once the image is in Lightroom, I drag down the highlights, boost the shadows, set the white balance, and do some sharpening.  

Area 1 - I added contrast, set color balance on the cool side, boosted the highlights a bit and deepened the shadows just a touch.  The posts, I boosted the shadows and added contrast to show more detail.

Area 2 - I cut the highlights around the sun, warmed the color balance on the left side and cooled it on the right, added some contrast and saturation.

Area 3 - I darkened the bottom of the image to lead the eye up.

Final Image.

This edit took about 20 minutes in Lightroom and I like the result!