Newbie Landscape Pic

[eddienikon]

Hi Guys

This is first time posting, I only got my first DSLR(Nikon D3100) last week from my wife as a present, since then Iv been all over the net trying to learn as much as I can! just took this pic and wanted to get yer opinion on it, how can I improve my skills, lens is standard nikon kit lens 18-55mm

 

[tirediron]

Welcome to TPF - I'm going to move this to the Landscape Gallery.

 

[eddienikon]

Welcome to TPF - I'm going to move this to the Landscape Gallery.

Whoops sorry,thanks

 

[JoshuaSimPhotography]

Wow, nice colours! Im pretty sure that this was cropped? well executed

 

[eddienikon]

Wow, nice colours! Im pretty sure that this was cropped? well executed

Hey thanks,ya I had to crop it for two reasons,one it just looked better to me and 2 the pic was taken on a main road(somewhat dangerous!) where I simlpy just jumped our of my car on the way home on a main road and took the pic,but every pic had cars passing in it so I had to crop them out!what Lens would you recommend for landscapes?

 

[Compaq]

That sun ruins it for me. Too bright, painful to look at. Nice colours, but maybe a tad dark and deep in saturation?

 

[eddienikon]

How would I go about controlling the sun more in shots like this?

 

[Compaq]

I don't know if it was possible, but maybe compose so that the Sun was behind that tree? Or just not include the Sun - sometimes it does no good in the shot. You could also take a few extra exposures, exposing for the Sun, and mask in those parts after. Not sure what that would look like, so I'd probably go for the first two suggestions.
Others might have more ideas