Thanks for all that, some great tips....i find it always helps to be in the right place at the right time...
Waht i want to know is where do you get your skies from? They are always so blue and interesting....Are you using a polorising filter? and is it the wide angle lens that gives such good effects?......or are you tinkering in photoshop afterwards.

Mr H

For 'keepers' if the camera gives a choice of metering methods use both, sometimes the one that gives a good pic on screen after taking still doesn't have the subject's colour right when you transfer it from the camera to whatever. Also staying in place and slightly shifting the camera's angle to the subject, whilst keeping to the same basic viewpoint, often shows dramatic differences to what shows onscreen as properly illuminated.