Two Canyonlands scenes, a sunrise and a sunset

Same pile o rocks in Utah, two slightly different perspectives: one sunrise, and one sunset

Tell me what you like and don’t like about both! I am quite rusty behind the lens and was just exercising my eye a bit on this trip to the desert...

In the first photo, there's a lot of foreground that is dark and devoid of detail. I would consider raising the shadows to bring out the road, as it may visually lead the viewer to the mesas in the background and make the photo more interesting. Alternatively, you could probably use a GND filter in your photo processing app to accomplish the same thing.

I never like a lot of sky, it's just blank space unless there are some interesting clouds or light up there, so I'd crop most of it out, just leaving a little breathing room above the cliffs. Also in the first one, the subject would seem to be those two rock cliffs, and they are in the right 2 thirds of the photo while the left side doesn't have much of interest, so the picture doesn't feel balanced to me. I tihnk the photo is really the lower right half - less sky and most of the left side cropped out.

In the first photo I would crop some of the sky to move the intersection of the sky and land off of the centerline then I
Would try to lighten the road to help lead the viewers eyes to the rocks.

I think the first photo is the more promising one but that sky is a lot of negative space that isn't doing much for the image. With the a7 you should be able to crop fairly well without losing so much quality.

I'd also try color grading and playing with curves to get some more richness and detail coming through

I agree with the comments above. I took the liberty of editing your beautiful photo by cropping and raising the foreground shadows and bumping the contrast and vibrancy slightly to add a little pop. There is banding in the sky due to my using the low-res posted JPEG. You will get better results using the RAW file. If you object to my posting this edit, I will happily remove it.

I like the first better. Funny thing is, I usually don't like man made stuff in that type of photo. I think it works here though, maybe because of the soft curves vs a straight line you get with roads.

I do like this version of the image. It brings more focus... and the road leads nicely to the subject. Love to see how different people interpret the same scenes.

Utah is one of those states that is filled with visual splendor. But in the same breath one of the hardest to shoot. The masterpieces we adore were shot on remarkable days with the best compositions by people who know the area well. Unless you live there, that limits the chances of coming home with a bag of prizes. It's no different anywhere else either in the world of landscape. The best bit is being out there, taking the beauty in, smelling the air, and making the best image you can.