I'm gonna go against popular opinion and vote for #1. I think it emphasizes the main subjct, the bird and piers. The uncropped and the lightly cropped horizontal version (#3) appear to be almost cut into perfect quarters by the horizon line and the vertical line of the piers/boat masts. I prefer #1 to #2 and #3. The uncropped version definately needs to be cropped to get rid of the garbage at the bottom and the small bright white boat way over on the left. (Just my opinion)... BTW - I agree with most of you. It's best to compose and crop in the frame but sometimes that's just not possible or practical.