Suggestions for cropping this photo

[HMW12]

This is from a recent vacation in New Zealand - has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I am envious of any members living there. I am posting the original unprocessed image and one that has a little PP done. I used an 8X10 ratio for the crop because the local photo lab often puts this size on sale for $1.00 whereas any other size that might be suitable for hanging on the wall is substantially more expensive .
Having seen the result I'm not quite sure I like it though.
I would appreciate any feedback on both the crop and the image in general. Not too sure of my PP skills. I have both Elements 9 and Lightroom 3 but am very much a novice in both. I do believe the major adjustment in the cropped versions was applying some clarity in Lightroom but I also notice that the colour in the cropped image, especially the sky is quite different. I do remember having to convert to 8 bits in PSE which I used to clone out the reflection of the tree branch - would that possibly affected the blue sky to such an extent? To my eye in the cropped version, the sky seems to be a little too aquamarine especially in the upper left.

Many thanks

Helen

[Mike Buckley]

I recommend that you edit your post to indicate which version is unprocessed and which version is processed. I think the second one is processed, so I'll go with that assumption.

Nice job of getting rid of the distracting reflection of the tree limbs!

You also did a nice job of adding a bit of contrast to the mountain and the reflection of the mountain. However, you could minimize and perhaps eliminate the effect of the haze by darkening both a bit. Try selecting them and slowly dragging the center of the Levels & Curves diagonal line toward the bottom right corner of the graph until you get the desired effect.

Notice that the reflection of the mountain isn't quite as sharp as the mountain itself. That's probably because your depth of field isn't large enough. When photographing a reflection, the distance of the reflected subject is the distance of the subject plus the distance of the reflection. (If I didn't explain that exactly correctly, the main point is that the reflected subject is technically farther away than the subject itself.)

I'm not sure what is causing the change in color in the sky and the reflected sky, but the need to use an 8-bit file could be one explanation. Another explanation that I'm less sure of could be that you didn't embed your color profile in the file before converting to the 8-bit file. Or perhaps it's a combination of both issues.

[FrankMi]

Hi Helen, I may simply be old-fashioned, but I generally find that landscapes done in portrait orientation look somehow odd to me.

The subject matter is excellent and if it was taken in landscape mode, take a look at it as an 8x10 in landscape and see if it looks any better to you that way.

[Geoff F]

I tend to agree with Frank that landscape sizes usually work best for landscapes.

But sometimes you have to avoid something and using portrait sizes is the only option.

A few scenes, like a solitary tree etc can work well in 8 x 10 ratio but many 'true landscape' scenes appear slightly 'top heavy' in portrait mode.

And longer/narrower options like 2 x 3 ratio rarely work for me. But there are always a few exceptions.

[HMW12]

Thanks everyone for the comments.
Mike I chcecked the EXIF and this was shot with a fairly wide apperture - the camera I have a Panasonic FZ100 is known for noise at higher ISO and as this was getting later in the day I lowered the f-stop. Thanks for pointing out about the reflection being at a different distance - makes sense and is not something I would have thought of.

I agree with everyone that the portrait mode is not the best for this photo - I think to do it justice I have to make a return trip to reshoot