Can you take a better ... sharper, larger, more well lit photo from ground level and post it? This one too tiny and dark.

And the tree belongs to the neighbor at the right?

What are the six plants at the water?

You have an amazing view of the lake! Belongs on a postcard so your shade should be up by the house & not interfering with the beautiful view. Except for shady area I would keep plants low. Also they need to know if lake ever floods over its banks! Don't plant too close to water. I grew up next to a lake, in bad storms there can be some major damage. What is the water level when you dig, (how far can you dig down without hole filling with water?) that can make a difference in what you can plant tho the apple trees look like they are doing great. The dying shrubs may be drowning slowly.

that view doesn't need much landscaping enhancement. How about closer to the house?

Thank you for the replies. The water level does rise a bit and the ground does get a bit soggy/mushy close to the water after 3-4 days of rain. At the water, the previous owners placed several rocks along the shore, which we plan on continuing. This is not a proper seawall, but does seem to help with erosion. When digging down, the water table is close to the water is down about 1-1.5ft.

Closer to the house, the yard slopes is more drastic and we have larger boulders by the deck with a good amount of plants already in place. Pic of that is below.

Forgot to add, the two apple trees were planted by my neighbors about 30 years ago, but were planted on my side of the property about 8 ft in. First year it yielded a ton of fruit, not so much this past year. So those are in play, I can trim them up and do what ever with them. Also, there is a hump in the ground closer to the water that apparently had a large tree there at some point, doesn't look like stump was fully removed as the ground is harder in that area. We do have an invisible dog fence but no underground sprinklers to contend with. I'll see if I can get a better pic today at ground level from the deck area down and midway in the yard and down as well. In the pic above, the slope is steeper at the deck and begins to level off around those chairs. the further you walk down the more level until you hit the waters edge. Not sure trees down by water, they look like a small arborvitae, but I'm not 100% on those. they are not doing well that close to the water though.

It looks very serene just the way it is. If anything, I might consider a stone pad area, rather free-form in shape, where your chairs and bbq (?) are, and maybe when the season is right put up a big market umbrella for shade. The stone would be useful for stability of chairs, table, bbq, etc. Otherwise, removing the artificial-looking 6 small pointy trees (which I think you already said are dying) is the only improvement I can suggest. Lovely home and setting!

Here's a few ideas. Remove the six plants from the center of the view and keep that part open. Limb up the apple tree so you can maintain the view below it. Install exclamation point trees along the side lines to help give a sense of privacy while not really enclosing. Plant trees off the corner of the house to give some privacy to the space immediately outside of the house. If I lived there, I would dress up the back of house a bit more ... shutters ... maybe awning. For sure, I would paint the decks. The wood looks a bit industrial/farmyardish