Hello there! I'm new here, but I still would like your guys advice/tips/feedback on my recent hobby that I have taken up over the last few months of my life!
I've taken a liking to photography as of late, and I was wondering how I'm doing to be honest. The thing about photography, from what I've gathered is, is that it can look great to ME, but not anyone else! lol! And that would definitely be a problem!

So I'd ask that you please look over some of my stuff, trusting that you guys would not steal my work, it's probably not good enough to "steal" anyway.
All shots are taken with my http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/s5200/s5200_front_blk.jpg camera (yes, It's kind of old, but it's all I have). I'd ask that you critique them, the style, the editing, the overall "feel" of the pictures, the uniqueness, the expression, etc.

http://imageshack.us/g/854/dscf4524o.jpg/

Please, keep it constructive and don't just openly bash.

I like a lot of your images, I think you have a good eye and ideas. I do some photography aswell but am no expert so I'll just point out a couple of things that struck me
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/14/dscf4028a.jpg/ I think would be better if piece of land with the trees wasn't right next to the man's head (maybe if you had swivelled around more or asked him to turn slightly so that embankment was out of the shot); it's a peaceful composition but that part seems to distract or sway my focus.
Similarly, http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/dscf3960o.jpg/ could have done with having the tall "tower" on the left completely cut out (or intergrated as part of the composition).
Of the wave ones I like http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/854/dscf4186s.jpg/, the other couple there didn't really capture my attention like your other photos. Think waves can be quite hard to get photographic/artistic merit out of! I took a thousand photos or so of waves last Easter and there were only a handful I thought could have been interesting enough to make something out of
I didn't really like the editing/frame of http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/36/dscf3945o.jpg/, but I think that's just personal preference.

But overall I think you're very good, my favourite was the second one of the sunset/beach in sepia, and the shots of the water underneath the pier (?) are interesting too! :thumbsup:

Thanks a lot for taking the time out to reply. I appreciate it.
I pretty much agree with everything you said, the boathouse picture, I never even noticed the other building in the shot, that obviously takes away from it. It's the little things like that, that is what makes a good photographer, and I need to learn how to do that better.

And the shot you linked with the statue and the horrid white/black borders, I don't even know WHY that is in that folder, I did not want to put that in the album, that looks hideous lol. That was just an experimentation I was doing in editing to get a certain look, obviously it didn't turn out LOL. Good grief, that's awful.

Thanks again for the tips and evaluation. I'd appreciate anymore I can get.

Out of all of them, I really like http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/231/dscf4501r.jpg/. While it's not the picture with the best technical quality, it's interesting and pretty memorable. I'm probably going to remember that one, which is saying something, as I look at tens or hundreds or sometimes even thousands of photographs a day on average.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/8/dscf4194a.jpg/

I'm not sure if this thread belongs in the ESF artistry thread, btw. Could be more appropriate there.

Haha, well experimentation is always good and you can learn from the errors too; I also have a couple of dodgy frames added onto a couple of older photos :hehe: And you're welcome! :wave:

You have eye for composition and I like your way of experimenting with the camera and the tools available to you. I'm not a fan of big editing. I try to snap the picture, then correct some lighting/noise issues if there any and leave it at that. Then again, you've practiced editing skills and I should now study the tools myself because it looks curious. I don't object to editing, here it was just the blur effect around the image that bothered me a little, because the same kind of more natural effect can be achievement through aperture and focus, if the camera allowed that of course. I can see that editing has its benefits, I just haven't looked into it yet.

I like the image from under the pier by the beach too. Turned out to be a nice effect in that color tone, with the foggy look. At first, looking at the thumbnail, I thought I was looking at a foggy forest, heh. Another pic I liked was the man looking out to sea holding a kid. You have picked a good composition or framing there with more space towards where the subject is looking at, the sea. In that kind of situation it's good to snap a few pics around the subject from different angles if there was time. Maybe if you framed just 20 or so pixels from the right, so the high trees right on the border of the image didn't catch my eye, so it would be perfect. Makes me think what is he thinking, what is he looking at. Art. Another place where the same composition rules apply is taking a picture of a fast moving object, like a race car, but you must have studied this, hmm.

Keep experimenting. Thanks for showing your album.