Choosing Photographs and Cropping

Photograph of Raven Run Creek in early spring

What do I look for when choosing photographs as reference for studio paintings?
1) Does the photo "ring my bell?"
2) What's the essence of the image? Can cropping the photo produce a better focus for that essence?
3) What's the composition and can it be improved by cropping?
4) Keep in mind 
• Shapes • Values • Color • Composition

The top photograph is from Raven Run Creek in the early spring with the creek being the main focus. 

The next photograph is cropped so the main focus is light on the big sycamore tree with the little waterfall as a secondary focus. (Ignore the weedy brush overlapping the sycamore tree. It's not important and it takes attention away from the light on the edge of the tree.) 

Here's the plein air oil painting from my trip to Raven Run.

This is the studio pastel painting with the Raven Run Creek as the main focus. But there's strong light on the sycamore tree so the focus on the creek is diluted. Is that what I wanted?

This one is a pastel of the close-up of the sycamore tree and the reflections on the water. While working on this one I reduced the brightness on the waterfall and the reflections to keep the viewer's eye on the light on the edge of the sycamore tree.

It's not that one is better than the other, but that the focus is different and you, as the artist, need to figure out when observing a scene, "What am I interested in?" You can get multiple paintings from one photo by cropping.