I like the colour balance in the second and third, and the tree best in the fourth, but am I allowed say I don't like any of them for the tree? It never seems, to me, to rise about the level of distraction rather than compositional element. I think it might be better to either eliminate the tree or pull back a little to include all of it in the composition. Moving the horizon line a bit higher wouldn't hurt either - I think it needs a bit more mass against the sky.
I'm thinking of something like:
Now, whether such a composition is possible is another matter.
as you know i'm not one that thinks sunsets need extra 'props', and the cypress has been oversold as integral cliche.
i have tried more earth to sky, but it just is so black, it seems like waste of eyeball/pixels.
perhaps if i had got there earlier and the tree hadn't been so black too... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
The problem I have with too little earth showing is that it makes me feel as if I'm craning my neck or that the sky is floating away.
