Which One?

[smitsmith]

Two versions of the same picture. My intent was to try to capture a sense of being on the edge of a vast openness. Ordinarily, I would not want to have someone in the picture walking out of the shot but when I cloned him out, the picture felt like it was out of balance. Keeping him in also allowed me to follow the rule of having an odd number of objects in a group. And it kind of fit the theme of the picture. On the other hand, he is walking out of the shot. So which version is better? Thanks for your thoughts.

Technical details:

Canon Digital Rebel with Canon 17 - 40 L Series lens at 18mm. f/20 at 1/1000. ISO 800. No flash or exposure bias.

[windrider86]

I moved this to the comparison section for you

[Ginger Pixie]

I would have said 2, had the cloning been better.

[johnnycombermere]

I would also say #2, although you might want to darken the bit of sea where you cloned the boy out, since it's noticeably lighter than the surrounding area. Also, is it me, or is the horizon a bit tilted? Nice shot in any case

[EmyB]

I like the second one better.