Hopi Point Slip?

I was reviewing images from Hopi Point taken in February and this was initially overlooked. I like the lighting of the clearing storm clouds and illumination on the opposite features. But, I am unsure that the lighting overcomes the lack of a focal feature and that a different crop may be better.

Here is a vertical crop I was thinking of that focuses on one feature. Thoughts? Suggestions?

I think I favor the vertical...nice light!

I like them both but the vertical really zero's in. The second shot is very nice!

I also prefer the vertical composition.

Another vote for the vert!

I like them both but I still might crop off the top and bottom of both. Get rid of some of the darker area on the bottom and the clear sky on top.

Go skinny pano on the top one and square on the bottom just to see what they look like.

I'm with Darren;kinda. I think the light, blue sky conflicts (which isn't always a bad thing) with the mood of the buttes. I'd like to see a crop from above. The scalloped foreground is almost too nice to crop.

I think the horizontal is the better comp, but I would push the shadow tones a bit darker. I think the very dark bottom section adds to the image in some way.

Mel-

Doesn't it feel great to be there during moments like this?
I'm definitely in the vertical camp, as you zeroed in on the best part of the skies and the 'spotlighting' effect.
The areas kissed with snow show up better there, as well.

I like them both, but the horizontal is better IMO. While the vertical crop puts the emphasis on the spotlighting, I think the wide angle of the horizontal has a better "flow" to it by showing more of the swirling clouds above which complement the terrain below quite nicely. I agree with Mel about the shadows.

Very cool image. Regardless of if you go with the vertical or horizontal, I would go for a tighter comp like was mentioned above.

The monitor I am using is/was not calibrated, so I downloaded QuickGamma. My monitor may have been too dark before as the calibration adjustment made it brighter; hence my images may seem too light before. So I took a little off the image brightness, added some contrast and mid-range contrast, cropped the upper blue sky out and slightly burned the far left middle highlight that I found distracting. I like the darker inner gorge at the image bottom as it adds depth, and flow from dark to light, to the image, imo.

I was going to suggest a square crop of the right side, but then I saw your vertical. Yeah, that works. Although, really, either one works in the end. There's certainly no lack of a primary feature in either version. I'd agree with any comment that suggests a tighter comp.