One path, one shadow

>removed<

Hi there. Welcome to the forums.

Your first shot, I think I would like to see taken from about 6ins to a foot further to the right, slightly closer to the tracks. You also have the horizon effectively running through the middle of the shot. It's normally more pleasing to the eye to place this either a third of the way from the top or bottom of the picture.

Your second shot also has the base of the trees at about the halfway point. I think I would have liked to see less foreground (although I know you included it to include your shadow). I also would like to see more detail of the trees so moving closer may have helped and angling the camera to put the hedgeline closer to the bottom of the frame.

In both shots, the sky is very pale so investing in either a set of ND (neutral density) filters and or a circular polariser may help - althoug I must admit to owning neither myself at the moment - but both are on the shopping list.

Keep shooting and sharing on here. There's a lot of people with plenty of knowledge to help you improve.

As Mgdh noted, a set of Neutral Density filters would help to bring out more color in the sky, but only if you use Graduated ND filters. These are darker at the top and gradually get lighter toward the bottom.

However, the sky is your photos isn't so blown out that I'd move to a Grad ND. Instead, I think what you need is a circular polarizing filter - a CPL. This will darken the blue part of your skies and make the clouds stand out, while adding more saturated color to the vegetation, giving your photos a bit more pop.

In terms of composition, I really like the 2nd photo, and I think you've struck a nice balance with the foreground, sky and stand of trees. However, balance like that creates a static shot that produces a sense of calm/comtemplations. A more dynamic composition creates a more exciting feeling to the shot. So, it depends on what type of feeling you want to create with your photos.

In the first shot, I'm not sure what the subject is supposed to be. Is it the sky? Is it the tracks in the road? Is it the trees along the road? To improve this shot, I'd determine what the subject is and then compose is such a way to emphasize the subject more. Without having seen the actual spot where the photo was taken, I wouldn't feel comfortable telling you how far to move or how low or high to get.

Good luck and good shooting.

Mark