Quote: Croping works fine. But it's also a different picture than the original framing... The question is then more what you, as the photographer, wanted to show with this picture ?
I'm not really a photographer in the artistic sense, I just use photography to journalise travel. For me this photo represented and recalled, a couple of fantastic days. We spent two days walking in the fells of Cumbria which we had never seen before. They are an unusual land form to us and as you climb and when you reach the top, the views are just fantastic. This lake was the start of our second day. The view was anticipatory of the day to come. So peaceful and green. The ridges of the fells, the cloud line, the reflections, the shore, and, the debris in the beach all converged to a central unified entity of memories. For me the cropping does not change that fundamentally. So I am happy with the alterations.
Quote: As for the uncropped version, have you try to adjust the contrast, exposure and curves to make the sunrays more obvious, as suggested by Wasp ?
I tried to enhance the rays but as I recall, I was not able to accomplish that without deleterious effects elsewhere in the image. Nonetheless, I'll keep trying. I am not yet competent in LR. But thanks for urging me to keep making the photo better.