Flowers

I am a newbie to photography. I bought a DSLR yesterday so I have only been using one for 2 days now. I have used point and shoots a lot in the past, but never anything advance. I want to learn and become a good photographer as a hobby. I took the following photo this morning using a Canon Rebel XS and a EF-S18mm-55mm f3.5-f5.6 IS lens. Settings: 1/500 sec f5.6 55mm ISO 100. Again I am very much a beginner and appreciation any advice, so critique away!

Thank you so much for your feedback! When you mention using negative exposure compensation do you mean moving the exposure from zero three to two places to the left towards -2? I just noticed that I do have it set for jpeg, so I changed it to raw. Again thank you for your feedback!

Update: I did some reading on blown highlights and when you say negative exposure would that mean decreasing the aperture? Like going from f5.6 to say f/8?

I stay away from the auto settings because I want to learn using manual modes and how to compensate for light and so on. I have both Photoshop CS4 and Light room 2. I used photoshop before getting the DSLR, but I just got light room 2. I thank you again for all your feedback.

This is better than the first, but I am seeing focusing issues here as well?

That is what I saw too. I have an IS lens, but it was a little windy today so the flowers moved a bit. I am getting a remote for my camera tomorrow and will setup a tripod and see how that does. You have any suggestions for focus issues? Should I increase the aperture some more? Say to f/11?

What ISO did you use? I keep mine at about 400, rarely do I change it, because of slight breezes etc.but on a still day you should be able to use 100-200..it will make a difference for sure! Mine are all handheld.

I used ISO 200.

You can play with the settings.see what works best for you at the time of day etc..