I am new to Photography

[Zetoyoc]

I am new to Photography and would like to Improve. No one I know Shares my new hobby so I would love a bit of feedback from a few who do. I am at the moment just a casual enthusiast i suppose, but would always like to improve and be able to create images that are worthy of my wall or even others. I wasn't ready to spend the money for an SLR so I am using an SX 10 Please let me know what you think.

Also new to forums so not sure how these links will workout :)

Thanks

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42542666@N07/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2776/4083509404_8283636b24.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2623/3970628956_1cc29b576a.jpg

[joedlh]

These shots demonstrate some forethought, which is critical if one wants to advance. The first one would be drab without the flock of birds. Yet a shot of just a flock of birds would be drab without the framing of the brightly colored trees. The clouds on the left are blown out. However, with the dynamic range you didn't have much choice. Were you shooting in raw mode? If not, learn its virtues. You might have been able to recover some detail in the clouds.

In the second one, the fuselage is blown out. However, like the clouds in the first one, it's not the point of visual interest. I have some niggles about the composition. What is the subject? Is it the central cylinder? If so, get in closer. If it's the entire engine assembly, then I think I might not have cut off the top and the bottom cowling. The cone on the prop sort of gets in the way. If I were to include it, I would not have cut off part of it.

Do they fly these birds with the cyclinders exposed like that? I would think that a bird strike would lead to a moment of attention.

[mcluckie]

I have no real crit on the airplane. (And I crit for a living!). The roof of the hanger is distracting; if it was darker (photoshop), it would draw your eye back to the plane. Light areas near the edge of an image take you away from the picture. Pay attention to where your eye travels...

The sky shot is a loser. I don't know what you're shooting; if it's the birds, you gotta crop SO MUCH. If its the red leaves, crop the bottom and the left.

Hey, man, it's great you want some crit. Keep learning.

[ScottKCooper]

Keep it up and welcome!

[Zetoyoc]

Thank you. I now have a few more things to think about while taking new shots. Especially focal points and framing. Raw is not native on my camera (SX-10) but I have the firmware hack but did not see the potential with this camera. I'll look at it again. and may have to learn to use some editing software. Thanks again, when the weather takes a break I'll go out and try a few more.