I often find myself selecting and processing images into the wee hours, as I am a newbie, and my settings are just not on point yet.
I see online the exorbitant amount of effects and editing people use on their images, and it makes me cringe when I see unnatural nature.
My advice is that everyone stop themselves just short of what they think is enough and keep to subtle enhancements of WHAT ALREADY IS.
An example below shows a raven in Bryce canyon, black bird in bleak light, but just a little bit of contrast and color toning makes him a handsome fella. The second example is Bryce arch at sunset, the light not ideal, so had to tweak a bit more, but I think it still looks fairly natural.
Happy Trails, photobugs