Another 1 from me pls. XSI KIT LENS

kinda looks snap-shottish.
maybe edit it a little bit, saturate the colors, maybe darken it, just mess around on it.

Not bad, technically.
A little barren as far as a message goes.
Perhaps that's just symptomatic of Wisconsin understatement.

What's the point of the photo? I find it uninteresting.

OdiN1701 wrote in post #8822085
What's the point of the photo? I find it uninteresting.

A lot for beginners like us...

AWGD8 wrote in post #8823361
A lot for beginners like us...

You are quite correct - no harm was intended by the negative comments, including my own.

Actually, to get past any serious issues of composition, exposure, color balance and lighting is quite an accomplishment.

If the only negative comment is one of "why" you found your subject interesting, you should be quite proud.

AWGD8 wrote in post #8823361
A lot for beginners like us...

Like what?

What were you trying to capture? What is in this photo that is intended to hold the interest of the viewer. What do you want the viewer to focus on or get out of this photo?

All I see is a snapshot of a fire station that is rather dull vs. some of the interesting fire stations I have seen. It's a simple brick building. If there is historical interest, most will not know of it.

Before you take a picture you need to figure out why you are taking it. If this is just a vacation snapshot for personal use, that's fine.

And to top it off, you never really asked anything - you just say here is a picture. Well....okay, so..? What about it?

To me it's just a snapshot and I wouldn't have wasted the space on my CF card for it.

From some of your other postings it seems as if you're trying to work too much on working on post processing, instead of getting things right in the camera first. That's backwards. You should work on composition, exposure, etc. first, and then after you have a grasp of that you can start working more on post. If all you start with is a snapshot of an uninteresting subject with poor composition, all the post processing in the world will not help turn it into a decent photo.

You should first find out what you want to photograph - what you're best at or what you like to shoot best. Landscape? People? Architecture? Focus on taking pictures of that, and work on composition and finding interesting subjects in that genre. Once you get more of the fundamentals of photography down, then you can start working on help with post processing.

I like the first one better. The second seems under-exposed.

OdiN1701 wrote in post #8826967
Like what?

What were you trying to capture? What is in this photo that is intended to hold the interest of the viewer. What do you want the viewer to focus on or get out of this photo?

All I see is a snapshot of a fire station that is rather dull vs. some of the interesting fire stations I have seen. It's a simple brick building. If there is historical interest, most will not know of it.

Before you take a picture you need to figure out why you are taking it. If this is just a vacation snapshot for personal use, that's fine.

And to top it off, you never really asked anything - you just say here is a picture. Well....okay, so..? What about it?

To me it's just a snapshot and I wouldn't have wasted the space on my CF card for it.

From some of your other postings it seems as if you're trying to work too much on working on post processing, instead of getting things right in the camera first. That's backwards. You should work on composition, exposure, etc. first, and then after you have a grasp of that you can start working more on post. If all you start with is a snapshot of an uninteresting subject with poor composition, all the post processing in the world will not help turn it into a decent photo.

You should first find out what you want to photograph - what you're best at or what you like to shoot best. Landscape? People? Architecture? Focus on taking pictures of that, and work on composition and finding interesting subjects in that genre. Once you get more of the fundamentals of photography down, then you can start working on help with post processing.

Dude! that is a great explanation. Thanks.
Regarding your original comment, do you tell your child you suck?
or do you tell her/his try another one and get better?

This is the critique forum, not the sugar-coated, molly-coddled, false hope forum.

I don't have kids so can't tell them anything. I don't see what's wrong with my original reply anyway. If you can't answer the question "What is the point of this photo?" then you probably shouldn't be taking the photo and move on to something where you can answer that question.

Before you go out again, see if you can find these books:

New Manual of Photography

Understanding Exposure

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design

Learning To See Creatively

Seems like this would be a really good time to take a deep breath and come back another day.

OdiN1701 wrote in post #8829795
This is the critique forum, not the sugar-coated, molly-coddled, false hope forum.

I don't have kids so can't tell them anything. I don't see what's wrong with my original reply anyway. If you can't answer the question "What is the point of this photo?" then you probably shouldn't be taking the photo and move on to something where you can answer that question.

Before you go out again, see if you can find these books:

New Manual of Photography

Understanding Exposure

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design

Learning To See Creatively

No offense taken my friend. A lesser harsh approach will be helpful for a newbie...

This might help. http://www.amazon.com/​gp/product/1441489762

Well I personally think the photo is decent. I agree it lacks interest but where it does it also harbors nice lines and colors. Your colors and good in the first version(second is underexposed). I would try to add some saturation to the green and pop the grass a little more. The blue and orange look good. Nice job.

AWGD8 wrote in post #8830210
No offense taken my friend. A lesser harsh approach will be helpful for a newbie...

This might help. http://www.amazon.com/​gp/product/1441489762

I fail to see the relevance of that book. Perhaps if I stole your lunch money.

And I fail to see how I'm being harsh. Realistic perhaps, but not harsh.

I prefer the first one, might clone out the tree leaf intruding on the building from above.