Feedback Please

Looking to improve on my landscapes, these got 106 views and no comments in the sharing section. Please let me know where I went wrong.
Thanks in advance,
Ken

Both images are soft. What were your settings?

I really like first one, even it is soft.second one lacks a bit of contrast and lack of sharpness is very visible.

They both look quite soft. EXIF for the first one shows an aperture of f/4.5, which is not small enough to get a good depth of field for a landscape photo. The second one shows f/22, which is well beyond the point of noticeable diffraction on a 7D (it's best not to exceed f/11, maybe f/16 if you really need it).

But as for the aesthetics of them...The first one has little detail in the lower third; it's really dark down there. Otherwise, it has some interesting atmosphere, and the birds look nice. It's just a tough kind of exposure to get right. You might try bringing up the fill light to get a bit more detail in the shadows.

The second one has some nice colors but lacks a good anchor for the frame--a place where the eye knows to 'land' between explorations of the image. It looks like a setting without a subject. It also could use greater foreground interest.

Thank You! This really helps a lot.
Pharasikleia Thank you for the more in depth and ideas.