Frosty trees and old shed

[Melissa in ND]

I would love to hear from all you experts out there on how these pictures could be better or if they look great the way they are. I am not sure how to get all the info on these photos, as I am still learning.

[Melissa in ND]

here's more....

[Robert_Lay]

Interesting portrait, but the earmarks of flash are painfully obvious (sharply defined deep shadow following the contour of the jawbone and sharply defined, round catchlight almost dead center of the pupil).

The snow pictures are all very nice and interesting but sadly they are underexposed - probably due to no correction being made for snow. Snow needs from 1 to 2 stopsof exposure correction if you are on P, Av or Tv. The lightmeter is dumb as a rock and will make snow look like middle gray if you don't step in and correct it.

[Melissa in ND]

Bob, thanks for your info. I am kinda lost as to what you are saying because I am very new to this, but I will check into what you said. Also, when I take pics like these what mode should I have the camera in - I have been shooting mainly in the rectagle (whatever that means) please let me know if I should be doing something different. Remember, I only have the kit lens right now and nothing else. I have been looking for a speedlite but they are very expensive as I am sure you already know that.

[Robert_Lay]

I would not encourage buying additional lenses or other accessories until you know your Rebel XT inside and out. It will not be that difficult - film is cheap when you don't pay anything for it. Hi!

This is a hobby with its own jargon. You have to learn to talk the talk and walk the walk. I am just this evening announcing the availability of my new free version of an educational tool that promotes a better understanding of exposure control with digital cameras. The official announcement will be in another thread, but here is where you can get it (for Windows only and must have a screen resolution of at least 1280 x 1024)
http://www.zaffora.com/W9DMK/programs/PhotoTool.zip.

By the way, the kit lens is just as good as the $600 lenses for most applications. No, it does not have Image Stabilization, and no, it does not have the speed of the more expensive lens, and no, it's not as big as the some of the bigger lenses, but don't think that it's not a very good quality lens, because it is.

In regard to your "shooting in the rectangle", I can interpret that in two different ways.
1) you are shooting in the green rectangle, or
2) you are shooting with auto-exposure in the mode called Center-Weighted Averaging.
I think you meant the former, because that would account for why your white snow has turned out as gray snow. That is exactly what the "Auto" mode is supposed to do. Remember, I said that the light meter was as dumb as a rock. Once you see that it is underexposing, then you dial in about 1 to 1 2/3 stops of Exposure Correction to make the snow look white and see how those shots look. Your manual will explain how to use Program (P) mode and enter an exposure correction value. It's not a trivial learning process, but you might as well have a go at it. It will come up again and again - especially living in ND.

[joedlh]

The bush in the front of the shed and the overhanging branch block too much of the shed in my opinion.

From the other posts, it sounds like you are new to photography. Apart from getting familiar with your equipment, as Bob urged, I suggest that you study composition. Examine your subject from every angle before releasing the shutter. Walk around it (with enough distance that your footprints don't end up in the image!). In this shot, I wonder if the other side of the shed had fewer obstructions and might have been nicely framed by the trees.