Taken on day 2 after purchase. Beginner

[bobbybabaletskos]

I bought a used canon rebel 350d, with 2 lenses for $125. Very happy with the deal, always wanted to get more serious into photography. Here are 3 photos taken the first two days after purchase. Studied some aperture/shutter/iso and took some 200 pictures, with varying settings. I am sure there are flaws.

The spots on the cloud pic are also visible in the landscape. Perhaps sensor cleaning is needed?

Please critique

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[Peeb75 3]

Particularly enjoyed the cloud shot

 

[TheLibrarian]

Just some thoughts... I hate green. I'm in the moderately country suburbs and I don't do landscapes really but forests are in the background of everything and I now hate green. The first one I think it might be a better picture to be in town looking up at a mountain than on a mountain looking at nothing in particular. More helpful I'll say you could have used the s curve of the river as more of a focal point. There's some thing about S's curves moving away or coming toward you. This one is a going away one. If it were reversed starting in the left and opening out to the right it would be coming toward you. Even If it were a sidewalk a river or whatever S curve regardless of what way it actually goes or flows. As such You could have not cut off the right bit of the river bend.

The cloud looks cool and stormy.

Eh firehydrant. some people take neat pictures of everyday items and they look cool. Id wish this one were brighter and/ or more noticeably janky. Like with a model the direct sun blows out the left side and loses some of its jankyness. You could maybe lower the exposure or increase contrast but not too much. Some other techniques might make this grittier too. It just feels like too much brush around it too. A little might be cool but here seems too busy.

 

[Gary A.]

Yes, some sensor cleaning is needed. Please don't do this on the cheap. Purchase 'real' cleaning fluid, (like Eclispe), real lint free swabs and a real air blower (Rocket). Cleaning the sensor isn't hard, just take your time, and repeat until it is pristine. You are not actually cleaning the sensor, but the glass filter on top of the sensor. But you still need to be careful. Additional tools for cleaning maybe be a soft nylon artist's brush and or a Lens/Sensor Pen.

 

[bobbybabaletskos]

Particularly enjoyed the cloud shot

Thank you, @Peeb The original looked just white and blue, but I ran auto white balance on gimp2, and boy, it looks so dramatic, with just that edit

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[bobbybabaletskos]

Just some thoughts... I hate green. I'm in the moderately country suburbs and I don't do landscapes really but forests are in the background of everything and I now hate green. The first one I think it might be a better picture to be in town looking up at a mountain than on a mountain looking at nothing in particular. More helpful I'll say you could have used the s curve of the river as more of a focal point. There's some thing about S's curves moving away or coming toward you. This one is a going away one. If it were reversed starting in the left and opening out to the right it would be coming toward you. Even If it were a sidewalk a river or whatever S curve regardless of what way it actually goes or flows. As such You could have not cut off the right bit of the river bend.

The cloud looks cool and stormy.

Eh firehydrant. some people take neat pictures of everyday items and they look cool. Id wish this one were brighter and/ or more noticeably janky. Like with a model the direct sun blows out the left side and loses some of its jankyness. You could maybe lower the exposure or increase contrast but not too much. Some other techniques might make this grittier too. It just feels like too much brush around it too. A little might be cool but here seems too busy.

I appreciate the critique. The fire hydrant was just another thing to shoot at, where in person looks cool, but the execution suffers. Same for the landscape photo. It is an amazing view, but it just doesn't translate here. After all, I went in with a lot of direct sunlight, and the heat haze was way too much. Come to think of it, it may have been a better picture if I'd use your pointers for the river, leading to the fading layers melting into the haze, perhaps a 16:9 with some more sky. After these photos were taken I started looking into focal points and composition much more.

What is your opinion as far as the color balance/sharpness?

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[bobbybabaletskos]

Yes, some sensor cleaning is needed. Please don't do this on the cheap. Purchase 'real' cleaning fluid, (like Eclispe), real lint free swabs and a real air blower (Rocket). Cleaning the sensor isn't hard, just take your time, and repeat until it is pristine. You are not actually cleaning the sensor, but the glass filter on top of the sensor. But you still need to be careful. Additional tools for cleaning maybe be a soft nylon artist's brush and or a Lens/Sensor Pen.

I have a cleaning kit coming in the mail from amazon. With the cleaning solution. Brush, wipes for the lenses and the air bulb

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[HughGuessWho101 16]

#1: Shy is too blown out. I would have exposed for the highlights and then try to recover the shadow details in processing.
#2 : Interesting sky, for sure
#3: I really like the concept. I would have tried to move to the left so that bright patch of dirt was not in the shot. Would be nicer with more contrast or clarity.

Just my opinions.
Would have show examples of what I meant, if your profile indicated that edits were OK.

Keep shootin' and postin'

 

[bobbybabaletskos]

#1: Shy is too blown out. I would have exposed for the highlights and then try to recover the shadow details in processing.
#2 : Interesting sky, for sure
#3: I really like the concept. I would have tried to move to the left so that bright patch of dirt was not in the shot. Would be nicer with more contrast or clarity.

Just my opinions.
Would have show examples of what I meant, if your profile indicated that edits were OK.

Keep shootin' and postin'

I didn't know there's an option for edit. I'll look to enable it. Totally open for that

Edit: I am allowing edits now