I saw this post yesterday and decided to try myself this morning at trying to get sunbeam in a nice composition. The only thing I could maybe suggest is to raise your aperture to over maybe f/28 to get a sunstar wich reflect the sunbeam that we see. So trying to get the sun in your composition could have been a good idea. Also another thing I like to do when I get my camera out in foggy weather, is to get a subject in silouhette like what you did with the cedar in your second picture. Maybe a cow, or a cat or whatever else in the driveway could have improved the picture?
Since I never really know the perfect camera setting on occasion like this, I alway put my camera in manuel, take a couple of pictures, look at them and change my setting until my pictures reflect the most what I see.
