Critique Requested - new to photography - a couple pictures I think are decent

[gregwask__]

Hey guys -

I am very new to photography (bought a Nikon D3300 last week - first camera ever). I've been doing a ton of reading and watching tutorial videos to try to learn the ins and outs of photography, and to learn the basics required to take great shots. I went out tonight and tried to take a couple good shots around sunset, and this is what I came out with (taken in raw, edited and converted to jpeg)

Can i get some constructive criticism on these, just so that i have a baseline and to give me some ideas on where I could've made these shots better?

Thanks in advance!

 

[gregwask__]

As for my initial comments, I think I went a little overboard on DSC_006 in terms of colour booster. I like the sunset pic a lot, although i wish I focused on something a little more interesting.

 

[480sparky]

............ I like the sunset pic a lot, although i wish I focused on something a little more interesting.

Focused, or moved in / cropped to highlight the plants more?

 

[gregwask__]

Not exactly sure what you mean. I definitely wanted to get the sun peeking through the clouds. I guess the top part of the photo doesn't add much to it, so that could've been cropped out a bit

 

[gregwask__]

I also aimed to use a high aperture to blur out the background. Good idea?

 

[480sparky]

The sunset shot has a lot of potential. I just think you should have moved in closer to the backlit plants.

As for the landscape, there's too much sky for me. The foreground is the eyecatcher here, overshadowed by a relatively boring sky.