Criticism and commentary wanted!

[AliBahulimud]

Hi all,
I'm very new to the photography scene, but would love to get into it. I went out with friends a couple of days ago and took some photos on a Nikon DSLR. Know that I've fiddled a bit with Photoshop on a couple of these photos.

I'd appreciate all forms of criticism, commentary and feedback, and any advice on improvement for the future. Thanks for taking the time to look.

1

2

3

4

And some Photoshop experimentation... no idea if they're any good, some pointers and headers would be appreciated:

3 again

4 again

 

[The Empress]

These look pretty good for a noob lol, the only thing i can think of is, the first one is a little to washed out for me, but other than that good job.

 

[Alpha]

Invest in a reflector. It's absolutely invaluable for daylight portraits like these. It would have really helped in #2, for example, to get his face out of shadow. I would opt for a colored reflector of some sort...they tend to help warm skin tones a bit.