Which crop do you prefer

[Runmonty]

These are 2 crops of the same photo that I am considering. One has more emphasis on the sky, and the other more on the silhouettes and the orange sunset.

Which works best? Or can you suggest a different crop?

Feel free to comment on any other aspect as well.

[Marko]

I like the drama of the different tones in and out of the sky!
The expanse is too beautiful here; crop 1 for me. I might make the sky sing a bit louder by brightening it a wee bit if this were mine. I'd also dodge the deepest foreground blacks near the edge a wee bit
Hope that may help

[mbrager]

I agree. The sky is gorgeous and vast, and the first crop shows that. There is also a beautiful reflection in the water to the right that is cropped out in the second edit. A very nice photo for sure.

[Runmonty]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the feedback.

That was my original thought too. From when I first saw the scene it was all going to be wide angle and about the sky, but then I started to confuse myself the more I edited.

This was actually a spur of the moment Instagram photo-walk with a group of strangers. I was in Melbourne for the weekend and intended to spend the day shooting, but was lacking ideas of what and where to shoot. Mid afternoon I stumbled across an Instagram group that does regular Sunday evening sunset walks. I decided to just turn up. The group was all considerably younger than me, including quite a few foreign students or backpackers
Despite their age, there were certainly some quite talented photographers among them. I felt rather conspicuous and out of place. Despite the sunset being a disappointment it was fun to be doing something so different than normal

[Runmonty]

Revised version incorporating (my interpretation of) Marko's suggestions

[Marko]

Hmmmmm
tough to decide mate. Possibly a bit too much dodging in that foreground and sky for me. (I DO like the dodge on the human subjects though)
The shot feels like it's lost a bit too much of the original drama. I might try something in between the 2.
(sorry for giving you too many ideas )

[Runmonty]

Now you are just messing with me . I can see I may have been a bit heavy handed.

Lets try again. I have also noticed a bit of a difference between the embedded image from flickr and the image uploaded to this site. Anyway thanks for your comments. I think I am done for now.

Brighton Beach by Dwayne, on Flickr

[Evertking]

Yeah, one looks like the winner to me. Both are beautiful though