King's Creek with repost

I took this a couple weeks ago, as the light faded over King's Creek, in the Konza Prairie. I only had time for 2 shots before the light left the log. I double processed the original RAW file for this shot. 30D, ISO 100, f/11, 1.3 sec, slight crop. C&C always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Really nice light on the log, Rob.

Beautiful light, Rob. The reflection off the water is especially nice!

Thanks for the comments. I printed this at Wal-Mart tonight just to see how it looked in print, and the blue sky really caught my attention in the print. Here is a crop in which I also applied some blur to soften the overall look. Is this version better, worse, etc? Is there an underlying flaw in the image original image? Thanks for looking.

For me Rob, the first one tells more of a story, gives a better sense of place. Were it mine, I would envoke my artistic license and simply clone in some leaves as necessary to eliminate the blue sky. The arching tree limbs add a lot to the first image too. Just my $0.02 worth.

I think the second pulls you into the image better.
Decisions...