Italian Dolomites - an exercise in cropping

The first image is already a crop from the original picture - my lens at that time was not long enough to get in for the framing I wanted. Anyway, we'll start with the one below as the "original" image. Views on that are welcomed in itself, but I also want to know what you think of the crops below.



First crop - to focus in on the tree filled hillside and the shapes of the interlocking valley and distant peak. Not much sky interest, so tried to minimise this by making it less evident. Also, the landscape - almost panoramic crop - is trying to emphasise the interlocking valley sides.



Second crop - closer again, trying to make the tree hillside fill the foreground by bisecting with the bottom left of the image frame. By going in closer, again the sky is de-emphasised and the little hillfort becomes more of a feature.



I welcome your views on each image and the relative merits of each crop (or not).

Ivan