New to Photography need C&C please!!!

[SD Snapper]

Hello this is my first time posting so here i go....i am very new to photography (as a hobby that I want to get better at) i recently bought a Canon rebel XSi and took some random pics and I wanted to get some feedback from them. I am a beginner so keep that in mind. But all feedback is welcome. Thanks
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

 

[Rosshole]

My advice is to keep doing what you are doing, shoot lots of pictures, get used to the camera, and spend more time thinking about what makes each image interesting!

 

[Caffler]

i would agree with rosshole.
take photos of everything and anything you can untill you know the camera really well.
take the same photo with different settings..
a new dslr can seem very intimidating, there appear to be so many options, but just remember that at the end of the day it just takes pictures...the way you tell it to

 

[reznap]

I'm a beginner but I'll try and give some specific advice on what to work on.

#1 - Too much of the flower is out of focus. Also try not to center your subject, it's a basic rule that you can break but with flowers and other simple subjects it usually looks better offset.
Here's a quick link to what I mean: Rule of Thirds.

#2, #5, #6, #7 - All of these pictures are very soft. I think it's mostly due to motion blur from camera movement. Get more light on stuff like this and use a faster shutter speed, you'll also be able to lower your ISO down to 200 or 100 to ensure maximum image quality.
EDIT: actually it may just be a narrow depth of field. In that case, you'll have to be careful where you auto focus because the distance from that at which the photo goes soft will be very small.

#4 (the only other pic of flowers) - Exposure and focus are good here. I'd crop off some of what's on the left and top, just to clean it up and show off the pretty pink blossom a bit more. When taking shots like this, be aware of the background - stuff back there can be distracting (in this case, the glass edge of the table, wicker chair and vertical blinds) and take away from an image quite a bit.

The portraits..
#3 - the flash is kind of harsh here. It also looks underexposed even with the flash. It's pretty soft too, probably either from the child or the camera moving maybe after you locked in focus, hard to tell. I would have shot this with the camera held vertically, and maybe used some other lighting (at home you can get creative and not have to resort to flash). The expression is subjective, but I like eyes open - to each their own.

#8 - your best shot (in my opinion) hands down. It's a cute picture and those (wow they're long) pretty eyelashes are in perfect focus. Might have liked this in vertical too, horizontal squashes and widens the face a little... just being picky though.

Just my opinions, I hope others leave some detailed advice, dissenting or not. :thumbup:

 

[SD Snapper]

Thank you for all your input...I will defentely take lots and lots of pictures to familiarize myself with the camera....this forum is great and I know i will learn alot and improve my photography skills:thumbup:

 

[templatephotoshop]

Those are some crazy long eyelashes! Love it. Reznap is right, learn and use the rule of thirds. I'd like to see the centers of your flowers in sharp focus with the petals a little less. Does your camera have a manual focus setting? Try to get off the auto settings play around with it and you'll be amazed what you can do.

 

[burstintoflame81]

I agree that the last picture is a very good picture. Not to say the others aren't, but they have more issues than the last.

As others stated, it is great to understand your camera. I would recommend reading as much as you can about exposure ( you can find tons of books or things online ). Once you learn the main settings that affect this, you can apply that to your specific camera. Also learn about different ways to compensate for camera shake, use the autofocus features ( like acheiving focus and then recomposing the picture. ), and the PROS and CONS of changing the ISO on your camera.

The other thing I would stress is to look up "Rule of Thirds." This rule doesn't ALWAYS apply, but when used can really change the way you look at composition. It will also make most of your shots look less like typical snapshots.

This is just my opinion though. I have only been shooting for 6 months myself, and this forum is one of the greatest resources I have found.