Newbie, c&c please

I'm new to dslr's, just picked up my t1i a few weeks ago. I have been doing a lot of lurking on the site, and have found a lot of good information here. Here are a few shots I have taken. C&C appreciated
Update-12-12-09- Added pictures 5-8, Just picked up a Rokinon 8mm F/3.5 fisheye.

As a fellow newbie, I'd be pleased enough with the work. I like the gentleness of the first scene and the composition is pleasant, but the cloud is nothing special so I'd have waited for it to move away. The second doesn't really arrest my eye, although I do love the beauty of natural objects. Why this pine cone, why this lighting, why this background? I'd like the main subject sharper, the background more purposeful. The third is very good, shows off the expression on the face. The orange on the hair is interesting, but I'd de-saturate the background some. The buildings are about to fall over to the right, look out!

I pretty much agree with Meanderthal's points. #1 is a nice shot and maybe a tighter crop of #3 and remove that distracting white light? Turning 'image editing' I find is very useful on here.

Meanderthal wrote in post #9156313
As a fellow newbie, I'd be pleased enough with the work. I like the gentleness of the first scene and the composition is pleasant, but the cloud is nothing special so I'd have waited for it to move away. The second doesn't really arrest my eye, although I do love the beauty of natural objects. Why this pine cone, why this lighting, why this background? I'd like the main subject sharper, the background more purposeful. The third is very good, shows off the expression on the face. The orange on the hair is interesting, but I'd de-saturate the background some. The buildings are about to fall over to the right, look out!

Thanks for the response. The second photo was within the first week I got my camera, and there wasn't really any thought put into the shot. When you say de-saturate the background some, Is this something I can do with a more basic editing software? Right now I'm just using the software I got with my camera. (Digital Photo Pro's, I believe)

JimMcrae wrote in post #9156352
I pretty much agree with Meanderthal's points. #1 is a nice shot and maybe a tighter crop of #3 and remove that distracting white light? Turning 'image editing' I find is very useful on here.

I guess I need to start reading up on pp. Thanks for the comments.

Welcome to POTN

I wish you hadn't cropped the larger tree off, it seems to float, nice to see a trunk. I imagine there were things in the bottom you didn't want in the photo? You had a lovely sky..

Second just missed on the focus.but its a neat shot.

Third could use a crop and a level as mentioned.the WB seems off, but I see there is alot of orange lights..

JimMcrae wrote in post #9156352
I pretty much agree with Meanderthal's points. #1 is a nice shot and maybe a tighter crop of #3 and remove that distracting white light? Turning 'image editing' I find is very useful on here.

How would I go about removing the white light? With a crop? How do i put, "Image editing ok" under my avatar? Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks for the tips

Flo wrote in post #9157066
Welcome to POTN

I wish you hadn't cropped the larger tree off, it seems to float, nice to see a trunk. I imagine there were things in the bottom you didn't want in the photo? You had a lovely sky..

Second just missed on the focus.but its a neat shot.

Third could use a crop and a level as mentioned.the WB seems off, but I see there is alot of orange lights..

Thanks for the comments. I see you guys both mentioned a crop on the third picture, how would you have cropped it? Feel free to do a crop on my photo, or any examples would be very helpful. I posted one more shot up.

icebat wrote in post #9162677
How would I go about removing the white light? With a crop? How do i put, "Image editing ok" under my avatar? Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks for the tips

Thanks for the comments. I see you guys both mentioned a crop on the third picture, how would you have cropped it? Feel free to do a crop on my photo, or any examples would be very helpful. I posted one more shot up.

To put Image Editing on, go to User CP and then to your profile. It's near the bottom of the page.

You can use the clone stamp tool in photoshop to get rid of the white light, although there are other ways to do it.

Regarding the crop, I'd probably try it to just before the wall with all the photos on it, but different people will probably have different ideas. Try various crops and see what you think.

JimMcrae wrote in post #9163393
To put Image Editing on, go to User CP and then to your profile. It's near the bottom of the page.

You can use the clone stamp tool in photoshop to get rid of the white light, although there are other ways to do it.

Regarding the crop, I'd probably try it to just before the wall with all the photos on it, but different people will probably have different ideas. Try various crops and see what you think.

Thanks for your help I'll have to try to crop it a few different ways. Right now I'm not currently using photoshop (Somewhat overwhelming to me). I am just using the software that came with my camera, so if anyone has any suggestions how to get rid of the white light with that, let me know. Thanks for all your input JimMcrae, and everyone else who chimed in so far

No bother icebat. Incidentally, you may want to check out the thread called "New to forums and still" as Meanderthal has done a crop of your shot but (accidentally) posted it in there. It looks good.

Oops! Thank you, Jim. I'll not double task again . Since the post to the incorrect thread has been made disappear, I'll try again.

As an encouragement to OP to experiment with post processing software (e.g the free Picasa), image 3 has been quickly re-edited. Straighten; crop out some of the building on the left (if considered non-essential); lower the saturation of the oranges (to make the bright background less distracting and improve the skin tone); clone out the bright spot in the upper left; then and a bit of over-all sharpening. Could do more, e.g. levels/curves to make the contrasts "pop", and local sharpening of the eyes. Icebat: thx and enjoy; appreciate that beauty is in the eye of the artist. Do send more of your work.

Peter

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Meanderthal wrote in post #9168089
Oops! Thank you, Jim. I'll not double task again . Since the post to the incorrect thread has been made disappear, I'll try again.

As an encouragement to OP to experiment with post processing software (e.g the free Picasa), image 3 has been quickly re-edited. Straighten; crop out some of the building on the left (if considered non-essential); lower the saturation of the oranges (to make the bright background less distracting and improve the skin tone); clone out the bright spot in the upper left; then and a bit of over-all sharpening. Could do more, e.g. levels/curves to make the contrasts "pop", and local sharpening of the eyes. Icebat: thx and enjoy; appreciate that beauty is in the eye of the artist. Do send more of your work.

Peter

Thanks a lot for your input and the edit. I posted one more picture at the bottom, let me know what you think. I will also be posting some more probably tonight. Been wanting to go shoot, but it is 5 Degrees out

I thought the last one was the best, the other seems just slightly out of focus for me. I think the last one may be nice if you crop it to be a panoramic style.

Overall very nice. I would have gone for less DoF in the 2nd image and filled the frame more with the subject. The cropped edit has too much noise.

merlin2375 wrote in post #9171628
I thought the last one was the best, the other seems just slightly out of focus for me. I think the last one may be nice if you crop it to be a panoramic style.

Thanks for your input. How would you crop the last one to be panoramic style? (just crop most of the water out?) Would it be possible to just re size the image to be panoramic style?

GorgeShooter wrote in post #9172325
Overall very nice. I would have gone for less DoF in the 2nd image and filled the frame more with the subject. The cropped edit has too much noise.

Thank you, I'm sure the cropped edit would have looked much nicer, if he had the original file to work with. Thanks again to everyone. I'll be posting a few more shots soon.

Added a few more photos, let me know what you think.