newbie

[Gerbera]

Hi, I'm fairly new to digital photography and would appreciate any comments and advice so that I can improve my work. I use a G3 and don't know very much about the different settings for lighting and shutter speed and so on....

[Fills]

Well you don't need any help with composition. Wonderful pictures. As long as you love to take photos the mechanics will come to you in time. Try looking around for a picture you like, and then ask them how they achieved that look. Once you can re-create someone's effect, you'll have learned that lesson for good.

[PhotosGuy]

#1 I might crop a lot of the blue sky off the top & lighten the dock area a bit.
#2 It's very nice. A little more detail in the pews would help. (Less contrast). If you have PS, there's a "Contrast Control" tutorial in the "Post Processing" sticky. Or, you could try a graduated neutral density filter to bring down the intensity at the top to more closely match the bottom. Then it would just be a matter of increasing the overall exposure to compensate.
If you can shoot RAW, the RawShooter utility can help a lot with that.

[sixshot]

#2 is a great composure.

[Gerbera]

Thanks for the advice. I use PSP - it does a lot of the same things PS does but is a lot cheaper ;-). I don't know if PSP has a graduateted neutral density filter. I don't have much time right now to try the things you advised because I'm off on a two week vacation to Ireland in a couple of days. I'm sure I'll take loads of pics! I can take RAW pictures but they take up so much space on my memory card that I only use RAW when I know I am going to try to make a really good picture (which is not very often, I take lots and lots and hope there are a few good ones LOL).
OK, that's it for now. See you in two weeks time!