Just a few notes. Love the reference, yet illustration still needs a lot to improve.
This is no simple scene to recreate, minimal though complex.
The obvious mistake is a non-consistent representation of reality, which in turn needs smaller differences, anomalies that are harder to compose:
Facts:
1. morning, breeze, low light conditions > long exposure + wide aperture = blur (for: waves on water, swaying plants / trees, moving fog)
2. fog over body of water is thicker at source (over water) and thinner above, as light makes it brighter from above so is ground albedo making it darker near the ground
3. probably a fine tuned post process using depth pass and luminosity mask will be needed to achieve better contrast in perceived perspective
4. less saturation & contrast on plants
5. some debris, leaves, twigs near & round the bridge
Photo shows 2/3 are a body of water to emphasize the calm, mild wake into the wonder of occupant life, reflecting slightly blurred as memories... in the end one wonders:"Who lives here? Will i ever meet them? Are they gone?" Winter is near by. No birds on the pond. Natural still life.
Just a penny of my thought
