Me too. But without them and the power they carry, I'd have to fix cars for a living! Should I have inserted this on Q&A instead of General Photography?

i liked first and main, cool shadow

I actually think these are pretty good, but here is some feedback for what it's worth. It looks as if you were dealing with haze. That's a tough one. I'm not sure how much Haze or UV filters really help. I use them but I'm just not convinced they make a huge difference. Better quality light can help. You mentioned that you were shooting in the afternoon. The light might have much better either early in the morning or early evening/late afternoon. On the second one I think a better DOF with the foreground in focus would have been better. Including an object of interest in the foreground helps provide perspective as well. Here's another crazy thought. The gold and green colors in the second one are beautiful. Given the haze problem, maybe if you'd have given much less of the image over to the hazy sky and more over to those beautiful colors that might have worked. These are just some random ideas.

I would have to agree with Tom and a couple of the others. There is, in my humble opinion, way to much going on, starting with the light. Landscapes are much better in the morning or early evening, especially when you have such bright colors on the leaves. Second is the horizons. You are shooting at a bunch of hills that come together in many different ways and it it very confusing to the eye. The second Napa Valley is much better when you only look at the top half where you can see the row lines (at least it is some sort of geometry that I can focus on). I think a better shot of number one would be to get down on the ground and shoot a row (or a diagonal). I use the UV filters and do not think that they would have offered a lot on these. One filter that might have is a polarizer (is that the right spelling? Never sure). By selectively altering the light that is being reflected to your lens, it could have given richer colors and a little more detail especially in the sky. It takes a little work to get used to it, but it is well worth the effort. There you have it. . . my $0.02 David

IMO I like them all, I like the different levels of horizons and the haze and the colors. But thats just my opinion.

I like #2 much better than one. The haze problem: Try to shoot early or late in the day when the sun isn't as high. The higher the sun is the more it reflects off of partials in the air. Yes that is the cause of haze. A polarizer may have helped. Focal point: I like the rolling hills but there is no focal point. Your eye just wanders around. Try finding something to put in the foreground to frame, add depth or just be out of focus so the eye wanders back into the hills. Power lines = PITA Cure = Clone tool

Thank you all for your input. Wilk, your right, I did learn something! I feel better already.

This is purly compositional. You can put all the Haze & polriser you want on and it won't fix It. The shot does not need more contrast in fact it may have more than enough contrast and saturation. It needs composition. Your eyes see all but can also go to spots in an area in front of you but when you shoot you think you have to take all in that your eyes take in, including pure perifery. You need to find a sweet spot, what your eye & mind are able to find that makes all in front of you look great. What does the sky add to the shot? Nothing. Get rid of it. Move in closer, Use a wider angle lens. show a closer shot of the Vines with the fields as the background Or move in closer with a Telephoto and just grab a portion. Don't shoot everything your eyes can see. I am going to steel one of Peteyboy's shots and put it in here in a sec. Peteyboy's Napa Here is Peteyboy's version Napa Redo

Personally I liked both landscapes but as mentioned the powerlines and lighting were the obsticales for me otherwise the composition didn't bother me so much because I could grasp the entire surroundings, and my eye seemed to like the way they went....oh well thats my .02. Was a rather enlightening topic here! Glad you posted here.