How should I crop this?

[ShavedMonkey]

I've tried cropping it a few ways and can't seem to figure out what looks best.
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[Garbz]

The subject is looking down to the ground so my preference would be to orient it in a portrait fashion. Taking a bit of the left and right and prehapse a bit of the top too.

 

[tr0gd0o0r]

My suggestion would be right of the image just far enough to get the whole kid into the image. Bottom just below where his arm shadow meets the shore line. Left side would be just to the right of that sign. And the top is just above the cloud.

 

[RMThompson]

Whyt crop? I like it like it is. Don't crop things that are essential. The water, the sun, the boy... all essential

HOWEVER, I might take just a shave off the top and the right, to push the boy closer to the "Rule of thirds" area...

 

[ShavedMonkey]

Instead of cropping, I tried messing with the brightness/contrast. Do you think the original is better?
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[Aquarium Dreams]

Now it looks too dark around his hands and feet. I don't know how you feel about vignettes, but this already appears to have nearly half of one due to the shadows in the bottom corners. I would try a slight vignette in the top corners to balance it out.

 

[ShavedMonkey]

Better? Worse?

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[Aquarium Dreams]

What do you think? Personally, I like it better. I can't say for sure why, but I think it draws my attention more to the subject. Unfortunately, it also draws attention to the blown out spot right above his head, which I didn't notice before. That may or may not be an issue, though. If it is for you, it would be easy enough to clone over the white spot so it matches the color around it. I like the colors in this. The gold and black are very nice. I tend to underexpose sunset scenes, to avoid blown out highlights, but that also results in less of that beautiful color.

 

[drgibson]

Too much background. Try to direct the viewers eye to the childs hand.

Try a portrait crop removing the area behind the child as well as the area under the hands. I like the darker exposure better.