Christina, I hesitated to comment on this thread because I think that, based on this thread and your previous landscape one, you are in a place that is all to familiar to me and I don't have any advice to offer as I feel a bit stuck there myself.
My take on this is that you have gotten to a point in your imagery where getting things technically correct in camera is not such a challenge anymore and you've advanced your PP skills to a point where you can make a pretty good edit on most images. You friends and family think your images are great and don't understand why your are fussing so much about getting better as they think your images are awesome. But you know (or feel) that something is missing...
Others have mentioned having a vision (we all have one right?) but it seems that your challenge (and mine) is not being able to express or verbalize it. So, you pop in here and hope that someone will provide the words or maybe that last little technical piece that you are missing to show the world your vision (I know I am guilty of this). At this point it is difficult to even find the right questions to ask because the both the technical and PP check boxes are all pretty much checked to some degree or another. Here is where the frustration creeps in and then you get stuck about where to go next
I don't have the answer to that question but what I do have is hope that it will come and the persistence to pursue that ever elusive image in my mind. We know you are persistent and it has shown in the ever increasing quality of the shots you post here!
Lastly, I will say that when shooting landscapes a lot of what you are able to achieve is dependent on Mother Nature and I now realize why people revisit the same landscape locations over and over again. You can be there at the right place AND the right time and still get crappy clouds! (If you have followed my early morning shoots you will get my lame attempt at adding some levity to this issue
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So maybe, as you said in one of your comments, you need to let these images rest for a while and give what you think that you did wrong with them in your mind have a chance to fade before looking at them again. In the meantime go out and shoot some BIF...we know that is your other passion
I followed my own advice this weekend and went out to shoot some architecture instead of landscapes just to rest my tired 'landscape brain' a bit. Not sure if I got anything worth a hill of beans yet but I had fun doing it
Now back to your lovely mountain scenes...like others I think that #4 is the best of the lot due to the lighting but I really like #3 as well if you can sort out the haze. I like Mike's crop on #1 and like Kaye think that Black Tusk is a little to central in your composition on #5.
Technically John is onto something with his suggestion to use a soft light layer to deal with the haze and increase contrast. I have been experimenting with this PP technique on some of my early morning shots based on a tip Grahame provided in one of my early morning threads. It think that the key with this technique is the opacity of the layer, so play with that and also selective masking of certain areas to taste.
Anyway, I hope that this comment has helped in you in some way even if it was to let you know that you are not alone in your frustrations. I also hope that I didn't project too much of 'my stuff' onto you and your struggles to find your vision. If I did I apologize.
Keep snapping my friend it will all come together at some point, hopefully sooner than later!