Hi Gloria,
One of the first things I ask myself whenever I look at a photograph is, am I convinced by what I see?
Now, as much as I love the colour in this photograph (the yellow looks amazing) there are a few clues that everything is not as it seems.
Most of the visual confusions lies in the lower right of the picture; that section of post just seems to be hanging there for no reason at all. On the left of the picture the track also appears to be out of focus and yet on the right hand side of the post the track is sharp.
Then there is just the overall softness of the background that remains the same all the way through the image, from near to far.
Anyone with a keen eye knows that a background does tend to come more into focus the closer it comes to the camera. I know that you mention in your submission that you have softened the background, but to do it in a convincing manner you need to graduate the effect.
For this
reason I often think it is a better idea to duplicate the background layer
before you begin doing big adjustments to an image. I then tend to keep the
background layer (the bottom layer in the Layers panel) untouched as a
reference point as I make adjustments to the higher layers.
The other reason why it is good to keep the background layer untouched is that
you can then use a layer mask on the higher layers to reveal the original photo
back into the mix. Often the mix of old and new can help make your effect more
convincing.
Hope this is a help.
Cheers, Anthony.