Cape Perpetua, Oregon

[nfnitloop]

I took this shot with my old Point and Shoot last summer. I'll be going back here this summer and I want to use my new DSLR. This is the best shot of the many I took at Cape Perpetua and when I downloaded my card at the end of the day I didn't remember it being nearly so hazy. I don't know anything about filters, but is there possibly one that would have helped me here?
The clouds were really interesting as well, but didn't come out at all.
Besides a few pointers I've read here about changing the time of day, I wanted your take on it. Is there anything I can do to avoid haze? (Will my new Rebel XT just be better at it?)
I have six months or so of practice with my new camera so I plan on grabbing much better shots
If there's anything better I could have done in framing the shot, fire away!
(I cropped out the annoying little treetop, lower right, in my display version)

[googlit]

some cameras compensate for haze (I don't know about yours), but the filter that cuts down on atmospheric haze is the UV filter. I've got one for each of my lenses, mostly because if it gets scratched, it's considerably cheaper to replace the filter than the lens.

to bring out clouds, it occasionally works well to take the shot at different exposures (try taking one a few stops darker) and combine them in Photoshop or some other editing program.

[hsroxas]

Googlit already answered the haze concern.
So may I just add that YES, compared to a compact, your XT should be a better gear, as there are certain things that are available to you now: a wide range of Canon & 3rd party lenses to choose from, choice of lens filters should you decide you need one, access to external flash (though this may not apply much to landscape photography except when you want to light a nearby foreground) or multiple flash set ups, better control of your shooting parameters (your choice of shooting modes, metering, etc.), a depth of field preview and much more features that should make taking images easier or more complicated.Oh, btw, you have also exposure bracketing available. Happy shooting.

[Morca007]

We get a lot of that haze in Oregon.

[Nieton21]

yeah we do.... where is cape perpetua? I love the oregon coast but I don't know it that well! I usually go to brooking, cannon beach, or Bandon (more for golf at bandon)

[nfnitloop]

Brookings is way down on the southern border so it's pretty far from Cape Perpetua. It's between Yachats and Florence, which is straight west of Eugene.
Google puts it 183 miles north of Brookings. Down the coast, I'm sure it's a nice drive - but slow and curvy from the parts I've been on.

I made some Quicktime VR files using PhotoStitch that came with my XT. Wow. This was pics taken with a little point and shoot without a tripod, but they still look cool. If I find a place to put them, I'll post a link to see them.
I can't wait to take some better panoramas and matrices with my Rebel now.