1st time shooter- C&C please...

[joethedestroyer]

I've been saving up for a dSLR for a while, and have my heart pretty well set on a Canon 40d. However, my work loaned me a Nikon D80 with a couple of lenses to use for the next 2 weeks (my wedding & honeymoon to lake tahoe), so I have the unique opportunity to spend a little time learning the art at no expense to me. These are some of the first pictures I've ever taken on any sort of SLR, so any sort of critique is certainly welcome.

A couple of notes first: the only touch-up I did was to increase exposure on the swan, and cropped the grasshopper to appear more prominent (I was using a 60mm macro lense at the time and didn't want to get TOO close to make him jump away). EDIT: resized the images. Hope this helps.

 

[AussieDee]

Yikes! photos are BIG! LOL

 

[manaheim]

Can I suggest sizing these down to 1000pix wide or less and just posting 1 or 2 at a time? Makes it a bit easier to work with. That being said, I'll try to have a peek at them when I get upstairs to the machine that isn't restricted to 1280x1024

 

[Ptyler22]

Thank god for my 22 inch mac screen!
#1 Doesn't really do much for me
#2 NIce shot but maybe a little more contrast would really bring it out.
#3 Doesn't do much for me either
#4 Great shot
#5 either it's out of focus or it's just cropped to much, maybe if it were smaller it would be higher quality
#6 Good shot, maybe a little tighter crop, but great capture, Mid air and ears flopping out ready for take off.
#7 Looks slightly out of focus but not bad, a little more contrast and a little tighter crop.
These are all just IMO, I am also a begginer. Just got a 40d about a month ago, I love it' I think you will love it too, I also shoot lots of flowers and stuff, the canon 50mm F1.8 is great, a very sharp lens and it only goes for about $85, definitely worth it. Have fun!