Looking for input on my landscape RAW processing

I've been going through my vacation photos and trying to bring out the best features of all of my photos. I am always wondering if I should or shouldn't be doing something to get my photos that much better. For the first shots, there is some exposure, brightness and a fairly major curve adjustment. The result doesn't look all that different but there is a good deal more detail in the crashing waves and more color to the land.

The second was a more dramatic change. I applied gradient exposure and contrast filters to enhance the sky and island and help equalize the brightness of the sky to the land. What do you guys think? Should I be taking a different approach or using a different feature in LR? I feel like I might have pushed the blue too far due to the contrast gradient filter. What do you guys think?

http://i417.photobucke​t.com …pp252/VVFF/IMG_​5339-2.jpg

http://i417.photobucke​t.com …s/pp252/VVFF/IM​G_5339.jpg

http://i417.photobucke​t.com …pp252/VVFF/IMG_​5376-2.jpg

http://i417.photobucke​t.com …s/pp252/VVFF/IM​G_5376.jpg

I know these aren't the "fun" drastic RAW edits but I am just looking to improve me general RAW processing skill. Thanks in advance for any help!

Hard to say: Which is the original?

I'd assume the first image is the original?
Going by the description you give on the editing of image 5376)
Edit: Just checked the EXIF: Yep first image is the original

In any case: one image is bigger before your edit, one is bigger after the edit. You might want to have a look at that

In both cases the second versions are better.
With the first image, IMO the midtones / shadows are a bit too dark in the second. But in the first, the waves are blown.

In image #2, first version, the sky is too washed out and the land too dark for my taste. Better balanced in the second.

All images were to big to fit the posting rules, so I have converted them to links.
(Which makes it also much easier to compare in a tabbed browser )

René Damkot wrote in post #9335500
Hard to say: Which is the original?

I'd assume the first image is the original?
Going by the description you give on the editing of image 5376)
Edit: Just checked the EXIF: Yep first image is the original

In any case: one image is bigger before your edit, one is bigger after the edit. You might want to have a look at that

In both cases the second versions are better.
With the first image, IMO the midtones / shadows are a bit too dark in the second. But in the first, the waves are blown.

In image #2, first version, the sky is too washed out and the land too dark for my taste. Better balanced in the second.

All images were to big to fit the posting rules, so I have converted them to links.
(Which makes it also much easier to compare in a tabbed browser )

Thanks for the input! Sorry about the different size images, I noticed this as well but it is something that photobucket did during the upload process. I suppose I could re-upload but I didn't feel the size difference was big enough to really effect the evaluation of them.

Thanks for letting me know about the size restriction. I'll be sure to leave them as hotlinks in the future.

Is there anything you would recommend doing to these images to improve them further? I agree that I probably need to adjust the curve to the waves image to bring out the land a bit more if possible. I also feel that in the island picture that there is too much contrast perhaps and that's resulting in clouds that look blue with dark contrasting outlines.

I's brighten up the shore in the sea image a bit.

Max size on POTN is 1024 pixels