I would appreciate all/any feedback of how I could have shot or cropped this better.
Any pertinent technical details:
This is two shots, blended for DR only, as the f/g was fairly dark.
Shot on a Canon 5DMk IV, 24-70 f/4 lens, at 24mm f/8 ISO 500, 1/180 sec polarizer, and tripod used
Hi Candee. Is it just me? I’m not seeing your photo. 
Yup, no image. Will return later once posted
I tried again… not sure what I did wrong :-/
Candle, I also really like this image and cannot offer much on improving it. The colors are nice and I really like how you composed the foreground. The blue sky is minimal. I do not see a crop that helps. Maybe others will offer suggestions. Nice work!
This is working really well for me. The image is not about the sky, but the rich shades of color and the variety of light. The blue sky works as a cool contrast to the warm colors and to my eye, nicely compliments the scene. No suggestions here. Nice work.
Thank you, Harley!
Thank you, Alan! I appreciate your comment.
Candee,
That was weird… but the image shows now. And what a beauty it is! Worth the wait. 
There is much to like about this scene and image - including the sky. As Harley points out the blue is a wonderful color contrast to the autumn colors. The rock island makes for a solid anchor and even the bare whites of the tree on the right and it’s reflection add a wonderful element.
I don’t see any crop either that would improve on this. The only minor suggestion I have would be a slight dodging in the ULC area; yeah, it’s shaded, but all the trees along the shore could perhaps get a small boost in luminosity (not much mind you.)
Lon
Thank you for the feedback, Lon! You are definitely right!! :). Much appreciated!
This image has some interesting elements, colors and textures which create the potential for making a nice image. And I really like your processing of exposure, color and contrast. But I think there is too much going on in the composition as presented, which is why you probably feel it could be better. All of the great elements in this scene are competing for attention with each other, and I think less would be more here.
The bare tree on the right, while a nice framing element, is very bright and keeps pulling my eye away from the rest of the image. One alternative crop might be a square comp that crops that tree away, which sort of makes the yellow tree in the upper right your new framing element. I think your instinct to minimize the sky is a good one, so another crop might be to remove the sky and crop just below the sky/mountain horizon. This still retains the nice blue/yellow color contrast because you have blue in the water.
When you have great colors and textures like this, it’s a matter of prioritizing what are the most important elements in the scene, and then finding a composition that does the best job of emphasizing them.
I like the composition and vibrant range of colours, nicely conveyed. My only criticism is of the web presentation, seems to have that crunchy texture with over sharpening?
I don’t see the blue sky as a problem here. As Harley says, it works very well as a complement to the colorful trees and reflections. If possible, I’d suggest a slightly higher position of the camera to separate the rocks from the shore behind and a view from a couple of steps to the right to let the yellow reflections show uninterrupted. This does look great as presented. I too see the crunchiness that Kah Kit describes. I notice that in my own work when there are lots of fine details and I’ve pushed the clarity setting too high.
What an incredibly beautiful scene. What makes it for me is the patch of light on that large rock. It just brings everything to life. The dark shadows work for me because of that light. I think you could raise the shadows in parts of the image but without losing contrast detail somehow (such as the far red tree). In short, it’s great as is.
Thank you so much for your feedback @Ed_McGuirk!! You are the 2nd person to tell me to do a square crop! I will definitely play with that. I also agree about simplifying the scene. You are correct, that I was using the tree to frame the shot, but it does compete with the other elements. You have definitely given me some things to consider.
Thank you, for your response! It’s much appreciated!
I didn’t see that at first, but will definitely take a look. I may have over sharpened it. Thank you!
I agree with you about skies - for me they are one of the biggest challenges, especially when there are no clouds to add interest. As you, I also try to include as little as it is absolutely necessary. In this case you found the best possible compromise given the scene - the rocks are where they are supposed to be, and the top of the yellow larch (?) is as close to the edge as you want it. I do find it to be a bit too saturated, but color perception is subjective and impossible to compare among people, so not really a critique…
