I like this better than the original; however, to produce this version I had to use content-aware-scale. It works very well on this image, but somehow makes me uncomfortable, so I'm curious if it would trouble others.
Tom
Tom, I think what you have done is quite all right as others have said. Your presentation of the scene can be as wild or conservative as you choose, and as art, you have free reign to depict things as you wish. It's a very nice image by the way. My photographic endeavors tend to be of a documentary style where I want to show a particular place or natural process and therefore I don't want to change things or if I do, then conservatively. If another person stands where I was at - they would see that same scene. I will get rind of leaves, some small stones, branches, and such to improve the image. I'll also use warp and other transform tools occasionally to nudge a composition into place. I try to do these things with care not to overdo it, but I use them all the time. It all comes down to the individual. There are those that are outraged by any form of manipulation suggesting that that makes the image impure. The only pure thing is actually being out there feeling the breeze, the warmth, the cold, the sweat, and rain, bugs, seeing the sun, stars, moon and clouds arc across the sky, experience the day change from night to day - day to night. Thats whats pure.