A couple shots for critiquing *Noob Alert*

[Down to Earth]

Memory card came today so I got a chance to shoot some first time shots with my "new to me" 50D and 70-200 f/2.8 lens. I know these aren't up to the standards of many of the shooters here, but I recognize I gotta long way to go. I toyed around with the manual setting right off the bat tonight. Here's my apple trees and a few sunset shots. I realized after I finished up my sunset shoot, I should have progressed the shutter speed from fast to slow instead of slow to fast to adjust to the decreasing light. Oh well, at least I learned something from tonight and started to get myself a bit familiar with the camera.

Apple Trees - Late Evening (ISO800, f/16, 1/30)

Sunset (ISO 800, f/16, 1/40)

Sunset (ISO 800, f/16, 1/160)

Sunset (ISO 800, f/16, 1/250)

Sunset (ISO 800, f/16, 1/500)

Thanks.

Andy

[Dbl]

Hey Andy, congrats on the "new" camera! If I might make a suggestion for you it would be to not be afraid of using your camera in one of the program modes. By that I mean Av, Tv, A or even P, until you get more familiar with the relationship between ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Modern cameras do a very good job with trying to get things right, it can speed up a learning process if you pay attention to what the camera is doing. Its great you are exploring manual mode as well.

Keep shooting and practicing, the more shots you take the more you will start to pick up on setting your camera up to obtain the types of shots you desire. Great start and please keep sharing your work here.

[finnbay]

100% agreement with what Dan had to say. 95% of the time, I have my camera set on the Av setting. Adjustments from there are done with ISO. Good luck!

[MN Shutterbug]

100% agreement with what Dan had to say. 95% of the time, I have my camera set on the Av setting. Adjustments from there are done with ISO. Good luck!

Also, to make exposure adjustments when the background is real light or dark, be sure to utilize the exposure compensation dial. When the bg is real light, increase the EC and when it's dark, decrease the EC. Eventually, it will become 2nd nature.

[ShawnZ]

Making images is alot of fun, the more you do it, the technical aspects will work themselves out and understanding of process will come as well, time spent equals results, etc. etc. Even more important in my opinion is developing a passion for what your subject(s) are. Narrowing down the interest or expanding it some times will in and of itself lead to better images. So what about the images attracted your attention? Focus on and continue to develop that interest and the results will get better and better.