Joe,

I love this shot. This is the kind of picture that keeps me working to improve my own work so I can someday produce results like this. Really nice.

On to a critique

Composition/use of frame space

Very nice - my eye flows from the lit bush to the near mountains, to the distance and back.

Colors/White Balance

I think the WB is spot on - as well as I can tell. The colors are great. The only critique I can really provide, and I am sort of stretching here, is to point out that there is a band of green in the sky. To me green in the sky is always unatural. I would see if the green can be PP out while maintaining the beautiful reds, oranges and purples. This is really just a nit because this is the critique forum.

Exposure
Nicely done.

Creative use of Aperture/Shutter
Seems appropriate.

Creativity / Emotion

Lots of emotion in this shot. Very serene, calming,...

Forethought/Visualization
Fantastic job. It appears you had the shot planned out and just waited for the sun to just barely land on the shrub. The light on the shrub makes this shot.

Post processing
Seems good to me.

Thanks for posting - what a great shot.