Please take a look and comment / help

Hi please take a look at some of the pictures taken today; I am still learning to use the camera and any tips / help would be great. I am mainly shooting in AV.

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

You might want to post in the Critique forum https://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdis​play.php?f=12 instead of the general EOS Camera forum. You can click on the "Explanation Mark in the Red Triangle" at the bottom of your post and ask a moderator to move your post to that forum. If you're looking for specific technical advice, it would help if you were more specific about what you want to know.

Thanks I have asked.

Just wanting to know if I am on the right lines; changing the settings and experimenting in AV currently; my previous cameras were point and shoot.

Photo 1 - Turn camera so horizontals are horizontal

Photo 2 - Dial in exposure compensation when shooting toward bright sky (as compared to object in foreground). You don't mention what camera you have. I think on all but Rebel it would be the dial on the back

mrrikki wrote in post #11449958
Thanks I have asked.

Just wanting to know if I am on the right lines; changing the settings and experimenting in AV currently; my previous cameras were point and shoot.

The shots look about as I would expect given the shooting conditions. It's amazing how really bright an overcast sky can be. The problem with those shooting conditions is that the overall dynamic range in the scene is larger than your camera can capture - either the subject will look OK but the sky will be blown out (too bright to show detail), or the sky will be OK and the darker subject will be way too dark. If you want to retain detail in the sky and also in the much darker subjects, like the statue, then you would either need to expose for the sky and use fill flash, or shoot bracketed exposures and combine in post processing using a High Dynamic Range (HDR) approach. Take a look here for fill flash techniques:
https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=11284909&p​ostcount=7
http://neilvn.com …es/2-flash-ambient-light/

Here's something else you might want to check out - it's a good technique to maximize your camera's dynamic range and expose to the right (ETTR - for more on that, see http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorial​s/expose-right.shtml):
http://daystarvisions.​com/Docs/Tuts/DCExp/pg​1.html

Thanks.

The camera is a 1000D / Rebel XS.

I took more pictures on the Flickr link but didn't want to spam to many pictures. I am trying to work out what adjustments I need to make to get the best out of my pictures. I think it may be good to try and find a local class to go to.

Thanks Stsva.

Here's some more reading I'd recommend (just about everything on this site is great - highly recommended):
http://www.cambridgein​colour.com/tutorials/c​amera-exposure.htm
http://www.cambridgein​colour.com/tutorials/c​amera-metering.htm

That exposure article is great; thanks stsva.

Watch your horizon lines and straighten them in post if not in the camera. The house is slanted down.

OK, I won't mention the horizontals except to note they all appear to be to the left....

The second posted shot was a mystery until I went to your flickr page and saw the whole critter. I prefer the whole animal to this close up. As mentioned, that bright sky fooled your in-camera meter which you can correct. IMO when the sky is bright white/grey there is nothing there to save so get the subject exposed properly.

Thanks for the comments; didn't even notice the slant until pointed out!

For the people who don't want to look at all the pics here is the full view of the metal dog

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR