I don't like my photos, please help

[solarcell]

i havent had my camera for that long, but i have taken quite a few photos, and everytime i get home and look at the photos i take, on the computer im dissapointed :(
they always look better on the little camera screen and in my head
eg this looked great through the lens but then...
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and
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i cant decide whether they are ok photos, boring, badly taken, don't make sense, ???

i esp have problems with photos where the sky is involved (like the first one) because the sky is waaaaaay tooooo bright and i even tried hdr but i dont think i did it right because it looked really dry and tired

used 400D with 18-55 IS

[solarcell]

and heres some more so u can understand what im on about

this one i thought was awesome but then it just looks....?? i dunno it doesnt look the best for some reason
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i usually end up massively changing contrast and stuff to make it interesting like this on
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please comment and bag them out so i can improve!!!
thanks

[blackcap]

For #1 and other shots where the sky is bright, I'd recommend using a 3 or 4 stop graduated neutral density (GND) filter. These are suitable when you have a fairly straight horizon as they darken the sky so that both the foreground and background are exposed correctly (as opposed to the foreground being silohuetted or the sky being blown out).

Where you can't use a GND because you don't have a flat horizon, then take bracketed exposures like you would for HDR, but I prefer manually blending them to give a more natural look than HDR software gives.

With #2, I like the orange glow the sun is giving. Probably the 2 things I would suggest would be to use a smaller aperture so that the grass in the foreground is in focus, and there's a lot of dead space in the bottom right which a slightly different composition might improve.

[blackcap]

Here are a couple of articles on GND's you might find useful:

http://singhray.blogspot.com/search/label/Galen%20Rowell
http://singhray.blogspot.com/search/label/Graduated%20ND%20Filters

These may be biased towards Singh-Ray filters, but they apply to filters in general.

[qtfsniper]

I know what you mean. It's all about composition but even then - the pictures dont look stunning. Post processing can change a mediocre shot into an amazing shot.

[PaulBradley]

I think, for a beginner, you are taking some nice pictures. I don't see much wrong with them at all. OTOH I really don't like the last one with the cathedral, which you seem to like, so perhaps I am the worst person to comment here. Feel free to ignore me - art is subjective.

Perhaps you still need to take more pictures until you know more specifically what it is you don't like about the pictures you are taking now, because you seem quite vague in what you're saying.

As others have said, if you wanted to render the sky darker without darkening the foreground a graduated ND filter might be of help.

I'll suggest one thing which might help a lot - post perhaps 4 to 6 photos you found on here that you really like (obviously with attribution), post along with them the reasons that you like them, then go out and take some photos trying to work those elements that you liked into your own photos - ask for c&c on here mentioning what your own thoughts are on how well you accomplished this and what you would like to improve about them, and see what people have to say.

Again, don't be hard on yourself - I think you're taking pretty good photos, so once you figure out what style you like I'm sure you'll be able to take pictures you like much more.

[cdifoto]

If it's color you're worried about, calibrate your monitor.

[Rehan]

The first two pictures are actually pretty nice. You could also look into the following article which gives a nice technique to enhance some of these photographs:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-contrast-masking.shtml

[solarcell]

wow thanks for all the response guys
ill check out some other photos on this forum for some ideas, and maybe i should investigate this graduated nd u all speak of

thanks

[binliner]

I'm certainly no expert but I'd say composition is your problem, with most of them there's no clear subject or if there is it's not very well framed... sometimes just walking around to find the best viewpoint can make a big difference

[cdifoto]

I'm certainly no expert but I'd say composition is your problem, with most of them there's no clear subject or if there is it's not very well framed... sometimes just walking around to find the best viewpoint can make a big difference
Agreed (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a304/cdifoto/2008-07-18-0070.jpg).

[Mike R]

I agree with the other posts and would just like to add that you should check your horizons. There is a noticeable tilt in the shot with the cranes. Easy enough to correct with software but try to get it right in the camera.
It's been said before but I'll say it again, Don't be too hard on yourself, It's common to become more critical of your own shots, the better you get.

[conkeroo]

Know what it is you want to take a shot of, isolate your subject and get rid of the excess clutter in the shot. Unless some of it is being used to either frame the subject or for composition (to maybe lead your eye around or into the shot). And as someone said, filters! :D