New Photographer, New Camera, C+C please!

Definitely get a tripod.

The pictures are nice (the first 2 I'm talking about) but you definitely need a longer exposure time. 1/15 and 1/20 of a second are pretty slow for hand-held. Even with IS I try not to go under 1/30. Yes, 1/20 is doable, but any type of cropping and you'll see a bit of blur. Try to stay at 1/30 or faster as much as possible (unless you're using the tripod).

As for the ISO speed, it really doesn't matter with the T2i. I had an XSi and with that camera I'd have to stay basically at 800 or lower in order to make sure there was no noise...but with the T2i (I also own one) I can easily go up to 3200 without seeing any noise. 6400 there's a bit, but still better than most cameras on ISO1600.

In the T2i's options menu you can set a maximum "Auto ISO" which only limits how high it'll put the ISO on the Auto setting. I'd set it to 3200 (or even 1600 if you never want to see noise).

And as others have said, the WB needs a bit of editing...If you're doing a semi-professional shoot of something like this it's usually best to just switch it to RAW (or even RAW+Jpeg if you want) so that you can edit the WB settings later. That way, an otherwise amazing shot won't be ruined by the off-color problems. Yes, it's possible to change WB later...but RAW makes it much easier and won't have any other negatives.
 
Yeah I am 100% getting a tripod, I definitely need it with the non IS 75-300mm lens. I normally don't go under 1/20, but have gone slightly lower so far. It is definitely easier to use the slower shutter speed with the kit lens. The 75-300mm does not work out too well unless I can find a way to sit completely still. I have had a few decent shots at longer ranges without a tripod, but I generally don't go great zoom ranges right now. I have gone to the auto iso settings, but I changed the highest auto iso allowed to 6400. I am going to start shooting in RAW mode so I can edit the white balance now. I never knew that, but thank you for the tip.
 

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