ksven-
hello and welcome aboard.
first i am NOT an expert here. there are many others here who are way better than i am.
look on amazon.com for a book called Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. I highly recommend it as will many others.
Being a film user ( i assume you are since you said "35mm rebel") you are at somewhat of a disadvantage to a DSLR user because you don't get the "instant report" on how your photo turned out. I too started with film and it didn't take me long to see the advantages of digital.
Advantages like:
-The learning curve being tipped in your favor by the instant report.
-You can shoot all day and night for free.
-Make a bad exposure? no problem. just delete it and shoot again.
-Want to see how it would look in b&w? no problem. just change the parameters. or vice versa.
and many many others.
Film is alot cheaper to get into but harder to learn. many variables can affect film that are not easy to correct on the jobsite. even the film that you use can have an impact on your photo. film speed, film type,lab, etc all play a part in your photo. this is why it is VERY important that you read Understanding Exposure.
Photography is about many technical things. it is also about interpretation of a subject. if 10 of us all went and shot the same flower, you could quite possibly see ten different "takes" of that same flower under the same conditions. no one is right and no one is wrong. it's just our individual 'takes" of how the subject should be represented and how the story should be told.
TIP: for now try shooting in "automatic" modes until you become more familiar with your camera.
Remember this: no photographer shoots 100 pictures and has 100 keepers. most of them will be crap.
Good luck and keep shooting!!!
ps- if you need more detailed help, i will try