This sounds about right. However, regarding your first sentence, I’d be a bit less cautious: sun reflections from water on a clear day guarantee clipping unless

This sounds about right. However, regarding your first sentence, I’d be a bit less cautious: sun reflections from water on a clear day guarantee clipping unless a polarizing filter is used or the scene is dramatically underexposed, and based on the general look of the photo (even knowing it’s after processing) my intuition suggests me that neither took place. Hence my original advice: don’t leave it up to ML when a little forethought can do wonders in terms of preserving information.