new pictures for critique

[saddlepotatoe]

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Aug/20048272332154243508602.jpg

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Aug/20048271438082770943408.jpg

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Aug/20048276544182623534662.jpg

I'm pretty new to this photography thing so it would be greatly appreciated if you gave me some tips to improve my photography skills thanks

[Molydood]

number one looks a little washed out to me
number two is great if a little wonky, maybe try the old rule of thirds on it too for improvement, as you have the horizon bang in the centre
number 3 is sepia, and is not my thing.

im new also, so dont take these comments too serisouly :-)

[tofuboy]

I would say work on your composition a bit. 'Rule' of thirds as mentioned by Molydood.

Image 1 could probably be touched up a bit in PS to get rid of the 'washed out' look by adjusting the levels and/or curves.

Image 2 looks like beautiful scenery, but like Molydood said, rule of thirds probably would have made this photo a bit nicer with respect to the horizon line. The top third or so of the image is dead sky and doesn't add anything to the image.

Image 3 doesn't do too much for me. The main subject is smack in the middle of the picture pretty much. I think rule of thirds could have helped this one a bit too.

Nice shots and keep up the good work :)

[Sailor Don]

Second photo is nice. My opinion is that it would be improved with a landscape orientation and appropriate cropping.

[flowe]

As you are new to photography, it's probably not too late to mention that calm water and sea horizon always are horizontal and mirror images on calm water always are exactly vertically below the real thing. To me, even small deviations are obvious and make me loose interest.

http://homepage.hispeed.ch/flowe/digifoto/img/level-sea_400x120.jpg

Every editor allows to rotate an image by degrees and fractions - and then to crop it. But don't do it in increments - always undo first and select a more likely amount until it's ok. Sharpen last.

A very handy tool is the freeware Screen Ruler (http://homepage.hispeed.ch/flowe/digifoto/SRuler.zip). Just unzip the file, put it in a folder, make a link to the desktop and preferably the task bar and start it - no installation process, all Windows. SR can be moved with the mouse or the arrow keys, and swivelled to vertical to check on mirror images or items such as building edges or trees etc. You can have as many SR on screen as required - very useful for assessing cropping etc.

It's hard work, but very rewarding! :D :D
Apart from the running out sea, the sunset to me has some merits!

[Big_B]

Agree with previous comments about #1. #2 will be improved with the above suggestions. However, don't get too disheartened - it's a pretty good picture just as it is! :)