These are all good shots KyleIMO they all need levelling the horizons. I would also brighten the water just a little bit to see how it works in #1. My best is #3.
Nice efforts.
Thanks John and Binnur for your comments. I'll try to make those edits when I get home tonight.
Good work... I like the first, best and agree it might be worthwhile to level, and brighten the water. I don't see the mist in the third, but pulling up a feature like that would be difficult. I think it is very difficult in general to get sunsets and sunrises "right". They often entail a larger dynamic range than a single image can handle. I have experimented a little with hdr, but so far the problem with these is that they tend to look like hdr, which is not a result I want. Often the air seem alight which is a very elusive feature to capture.
Kyle before I make an suggestions, what post production software are you using? Yes it was a late, cool, and windy start to spring up in Algonquin this year.
Cheers: Allan
Kyle sometimes when I get an image like your 1st. Here is what I do, in either LR or ACR open the file, now add a grad to the top part of the sky bring it down to the top of the trees and lower the exposure about 2/3rd's of a stop. Now to the overall image increase the exposure by that 2/3rd's or more, use the shadow slider to bring out some more detail in the shadows. Try this as a starting point. Remember you can always adjust the grad lighter or darker as needed.
Cheers: Allan