I dunno -- I think the detail/color in the sky sets a mood consistent with the bare trees.

Between the two (crop and no crop) I like the original better, I think. That's mostly because in the crop, my eye either wants to see more of the sun, or none of it. The crop does do a better job as far as composition if we're just focusing on the trees, but there's more going on here in this scene and it's not just about the trees.

With the original, you get kind of a "Yin-Yang" swirl with the sky going from the top right going down to the left side and hooking back over to the right at the bottom, like a big "6". It is somewhat busy, but not in a bad way. I don't think it's too much. The whole thing pulls me in. I'd hang it on my wall.

-P