Nice work. There is a surrealistic quality that is intriguing that might put the viewer a little off-balance. Not a bad thing. There is a dreamlike quality to it. You captured the sun at just the right moment. A minute or to later and the starburst would not have extended just to the edge of the water.

In answer to your question, SOOC means straight out of camera, i.e. a jpg determined by the camera. It is oftentimes used as the intro to a pis sing contest most easily understood if you imagine John Wayne's voice (thumbs tucked into belt), "Ya' ain't no real photographer if ya' don't shoot SOOC." (You can also substitute a camera name, full-frame, etc.) Processing is necessary if shooting RAW. In trying to convey the mood one felt while taking the photo processing is even more necessary. Our eyes pick up infinitely more variations of color and tone than any processor ever will. Thus, to show it as it truly was (which is ultimately impossible but we may get closer than a camera determined program) we have to tweak. Tweaking is a lot easier and accurate if the original is in RAW.

Converting from color to black and white might be considered the original "overcooking." Conversion to black and white is also necessary if one wants to convey certain moods (daytime graveyard photos always look better in black and white. Too much green from the the grass.) Keep shooting and posting. Ignore hostility. The revered Ansel Adams (John Wayne again, "Bow yer' head when you say that name.") processed the bejabbers out of his photos. Somewhere in the Smithsonian one can find a print made from the negative of the famous photo of Bridal Veil Falls next to Adams's print. The original without the darkroom work done by Adams looks like something Lucy and Ethel might have taken on their cross-country trip using an early version of a Polaroid camera (don't forget the fixative Lucy).