Needing some c&c

[SnK]

Hello. I am trying to learn and get better at photography. What suggestions do you have that I could do to make my pictures better? I took these with a Kodak Z812 IS.
Thanks,
Kendra

Hawk

Grasshopper

Pink Flower

 

[osirus]

#1 one is nice ( may be a tad soft.. but i wont say anything because my monitor is a tad soft... lol i need a new one badly.)
would have liked to see the whole bird in frame though.

I like #2 , love the lil grass hopper
Maybe crop it a bit tighter to the flowers? lose of the the emtpy green space on the right?
maybe even see how it looks with a tighter crop at about apox the right edge of the top flower?

#3 dosent do much for me at all. reshoot from a different angle maybe?

 

[eccs19]

#1 - Same as osirus

#2 - If you were looking to capture the three flowers, then I think you were a little to tight to them. (top flower is slightly cut off) Plus you could have slightly increased your DOF for all three.

#3 - I like the way the pink and green stand out from the background, but it would have been nicer if the flower was more open, but I know that's beyond your control.

 

[LaFoto]

Not bad. I can tell you are on the right path.

I'm with osirus in wanting to see the whole bird (claws! Important for hawks!) within your frame. But separating it from its background by choice of aperture is ok, exposures seemed to have been on the difficult side for you, what with the amount of sunlight hitting the stem behind him ... so that part blew (and distracts, in consequence).

I like the photo of the grasshopper, though I don't feel it is the main subject. You did what I like, i.e. you did not crop into any petals (with the top flower only JUST), and I much appreciate that! However, this - to my mind - automatically makes the flowers your subject, and the grasshopper is just a welcome addition to it. If you want that hopper to be your main subject, you must "sacrifice" some of the flowers and crop closer (or next time get closer, given your camera allows for it, not all cameras or lenses do). The photo as is could do with some more contrasts and also a run through Unsharp Mask to make it a tad sharper. Don't know how high your ISO was? Maybe that hint of unsharpness is noise?

I see why you took the last: you liked the flower against a background that would turn all black and unintrusive. Wise move. But composition is a bit on the boring side with the flower being so centred, and exposure seems a tad too long, so you lost some of the details and some of the colour.