this on is amazing!! great photography!

I like this second one better. I love all that sky.

Great shot. To me this one looks better, but I am not an expert. The sky is fabulous on this one. The composition is much more inviting too.

The question you ask is a bit difficult to answer. The 2 pictures are different and in comparison, everything depends on what you are showing the viewer.

Yesterday's is sharper and and up personal iro the tower with some rooftop detail in the foreground. Today's is a general landscape, softer (less sharp) and includes the street scene. In this case the mountain seems to be the subject, although it could be the landscape in itself.

In every picture there is a thing called Point of Focus (POV) - or the main subject. It is the first item you see when viewing the picture. That would normally be a lighter colour point in the picture - which is the tower in yesterday's pic. Today's pic the lighter colour is allover including the golden colour of the sun. It means that the attention may be directed at the volcano.

What I want to say with all of this - it depends what your main subject is. The title suggests the volcano. In that case I go for today's composition, but yesterday's sharpness.

For an award winning picture, you would have hired a helicopter and took pictures from the top. That is what the pro's do.

Jewlya: As always, thank you, Louis, for the detailed response. I like how you described yesterday's "up personal" - it did really set the focus on the volcano much better.

I'm usually the first to say don't forget to try alternatives to landscapes by zooming in and picking out details. Get the most out of each scene, which you've tried with these two shots.

On balance, though, my immediate senses went for this one, although as Louis says, it's not as sharp as it could be. Did you use a tripod for this low light shot?

This one is better for me too because of the layout and sky. It gives a greater sense of space and scale.

I'm going to disagree with everyone else - my favourite is definitely yesterday's. For me, this is just a view, albeit a good one, whereas yesterday's was a carefully framed and composed image - it's sometimes not what you put in, but what you leave out and there's too much going on here.
Ingrid

Both excellent!
Yesterday's picture appeals to me more, as it presents the volcano as even bigger and more aggressive-looking than today's.

Today because of the sky

This one is my likey of the two, more space, the vulcano even looks bigger, nice job Jewlya.

Yesterday's is the better technically but I think this composition is stronger.

This one is my choice too, I like the softness but I really liked yesterday's as well. They are quite different.

Hum..... I really liked yesterday's photo, but not because of the volcano. I really enjoyed the building the the architecture. I found the composition crisp and clear.

This one shows more of the volcano, but again it isn't what draws my attention. I am still drawn to that building in the back and the dome shape of what appears to be a building behind it. The buildings have an overall feeling of neglect which I find strangely attractive.

Nice sky behind this so massive Volcano !!!

Everybody is begging to differ Jewlya but for me its got to be yesterday. Ilike the closer crop on the foreground buildings, it is only a shame the right hand sky wasn't iun yesterdays picture.

This is nice, but I like yesterday's much better. It is tighter, tidier, and more to the point. This version has too much non-essential stuff in it for me and it is not as sharp.

Jewlya: Thank you for the description of what worked!

I prefer yesterday's one with its massive perspective.

I think this one is better than the first, probably because there is more of the sky and the sunset.

Another beautiful shot and composition. Nice background mountains and sky.

This suffers from rather flat light with the only bright area on the right hand side drawing your eye out of the picture. This is the sort of picture that in competitions gets dismissed as a record shot! I always thought that that was what photographs were..a record. Anyway. If you had used a tripod and waited you might have got a picture with the street lights and other lights coming on and the volcano silhouetted in the background. That would have been more interesting to someone who wasn't there.

Yesterday's picture is a tighter composition and I agree with Ingrid. It is often what you leave out that makes the picture. You have to hold the attention and take the eye into the picture. Many pictures (most of mine)leave the eye wandering about looking for a focal point and often wandering out of the picture. If you asked someone why they didn't like the shot, they might not be able to tell you but often that is the reason.

These are my thoughts and I'm not saying I'm any sort of expert, but if it helps at all then great

This one, it put's the town and volcano in perspective.

this one is far better for me Jewlya, i find the flowers in the foreground of yesterdays too much of a distraction,

Jewlya: you know, at the time I thought they helped layer the photo nicely, but I'm starting to agree with you!

Not looking at anybody else's comment - I prefer this one, it gives the mountain a much better scale, I can see how big it really is.

I think you probably used a tripod, but not shutter delay.

Yesterday's is sharper, but both seem a bit flat, which is the light at that time of day.

If you were to crop this one slightly, into that first lamp post perhaps, and boost the contrast it might help, but if you keep that lovely bright sky and increase contrast it'll blow.

This one is better, more to it and better composed.

I like yesterday shot more as the volcano is more prominent.