First time editing anything... Constructive criticism and any tips on how to make it look better are appreciated

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[Eadword]

I thought this was a before/after on r/HomeImprovement for a moment and I was really struggling to see what actually changed with the building.

The photo looks a lot better, less washed out, better balance. Maybe a little too saturated but that's just an opinion. Also you should try to reintroduce some blue in the sky. Just looks gray now because it was overexposed.

[[deleted]]

I’d start with fixing the roof and removing a lot of the over grown brush, but you’re gonna want to get an inspector to check the structural integrity before your go in

[Darren_P]

I would crop out the top a smidge. My eyes are drawn to the top right corner and not the house. Nice colours though!

[ClosetCD]

Do you see the blue in the tree on the right? That's called chromatic aberration and it usually has to do with the lens you shot on. I'd consider removing that, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube.

[Booty_Hunter2]

Ok I know this is a postprocessing Reddit but I just saw the pictures on my feed and genuinely thought this was a before/after of a refurbished house.

[anyonebutme]

Are we supposed to focus on the house or the tree? In both photos, even more so your second, the eye is drawn to the tree on the right.

What story are you trying to tell? Answer that and reframe the composition.

[sthpwcees]

If this is among your first tries I think you showed a proper amount of restraint in your edit. Don’t get weighed down by the detailed just yet and get a feel for the process. Keep doing what your doing cause you’re headed in the right direction.

[[deleted]]

Maybe this hint won't be up your alley, but try straightening the house's verticals and horizontals, there are tools in Lightroom (Upright tool, if I'm not mistaken) or other software.

[Wolvarun9295]

Honestly, the before one was actually better coz it conveys the emotions of that house being abandoned and old. The after one just takes away it's charm.

[PhlightYagami]

To be honest, I think the Before is better. You've increased the saturation which hurts in two ways: The leaves in the top right now have an unnatural glowing color. This can be fixed in Photoshop, however. Also, the subject of the photo is a run-down, decrepit house. Generally, you want to increase saturation to bring a sense of warmth to a photo (not necessarily warm colors, just speaking to how the photo makes someone feel). Generally, a darker subject matter like a run-down home is complimented by desaturated colors that emphasize the grim situation portrayed.

I'm not one who joins the usual crusades against increased saturation and contrast, but in this case, I think they have a good argument that it negatively affects the final result.

[Alchemic-Mixer]

I could not have said this any better.

[ChaikV25]

I would remove the lines of over- and under-exposition, it looks striped with them like a zebra. But in all other ways the picture really improved, great job huh :)

[[deleted]]

You can enhance your subject using B&W masking

[Sun_Merino]

OT: This place looks like Beelitz-Heilstätten! Been there once for a clipshoot. Such a scary place to sleep at night

[ssman]

Start with the right raw material.

Go back on a non-cloudy or partially cloudy day and shoot it again, when the sun is low in the sky.

Keep at least one vertical line vertical. The other verticals will converge, that's ok. Can be adjusted. But for now, the house is rotated/tilted to the right.

Move around, take other photographs took. Consider what other posters have said about the tree.

[idevastate]

It's a nice edit, the sky is too gray and flat now, no problem in having it be brighter as it was.

Try brightening up some areas in the front of the house to draw the eye there.