Hi Laura, welcome to the asylum!
I must say considering you have only just started you have done a good job. As you have correctly said its a big learning curve an TBH we are all still learning and always will be
. There's loads to learn but this is a great place to learn and you will get great advice here (mostly
).
Here's a bit of feedback, constructive of course!
Animal... Love dogs! You have great eye contact here just what you need and you have nice sharp focus on the leading eye. The only issue is the darken side of his (her) face. Which is a pity. So how can you sort that? Well one way is to use a reflector. That's a posh word for a sheet of A4 white card, a white chopping board anything reflective
. Now as you can clearly see the lights coming in from the left, so hold or get someone to hold the reflector on the RH side as you tilt it around you'll see the light come up on shaded side of his face and off you go! Using the available natural light will help too, rather than a flash which might overwhelm the image. You can of course use a flash or other light but diffusing the light will help. You can of course lighten up one side of the image in post production (Photoshop or whatever). Nice shot though.
High ISO's can often introduce noise (really grainy look especially when you try and enlarge pictures or crop them especially in dark areas of the shot) which can be annoying but cameras are getting much better at handling low light situations. So lower the ISO better the quality as a rule of thumb.
Medical..... Think I like the first shot here best. Second shot the buntings a bit lost in the patten of the roof tiles on the right. Ok the sign is sharper but hey ho!
The buntings in the first shot is nice and colourful and a bit of fun. Like the composition here seems well balanced. Pity about the sky but at the end of the day were all chasing the great light ( well I do ). Don't get frustrated though sometimes it takes lots of shots to get everything just right and I have visited locations lots of times until I've got every thing just right, light, cloud, etc etc. What I say is every photograph you take you learn something, either about the location or about photography, and the next time you go back you'll have that knowledge and in your minds eye you'll know just how you want to shoot it and when the conditions are right. It's all a balancing act
.
Proverb.... I really like this! Very simple very effective. Diagonals always work well especially from top right to bottom left (works in landscapes too) something to do with how the eye scans the image I'm told. I really like the rock and the clover, gives me the feeling you have really thought about this and gives me the sort of Celtic freely, 'pen is mightier than the sword' .... Sword in the stone... Shamrock aka clover ( flipping heck that's a bit deep
). It really works for me love it! No such thing as too simple, generally it's the simple shots that really work. Well Done! ( just read other posts so now we've had cow-pat, rock and tree
).
Pale ... Like the concept, think I'd eat it.... Oops no what I meant was, think I'd just pull the dish round a tad pick up the circular rim and think I'd also get some of those flutes down the side of the dish in to give additional interest. Nicely focused looking at the spoon there's an opportunity for a bit of fun there too by having a play with the reflections in the spoon
. Nice colour too but keep an eye on the white balance indoors it can be upset by your room lighting, and things that should be white look grey or off white. I guess you are shooting in JPG format. When you start shooting in RAW your white balance can be changed very simply in post production.
Pale 2, lollies! Very abstract, nice idea, very good use of DOF. I think I would have lightened the image a tad, but on the other hand the muted lighting does add to the pale theme.
I think on balance I like No1 best
Tear.... Nice shot, he's having fun! I think interpreting the theme is part of the fun
. Works for me. I'd just pull out a touch to pick up the tip of his head and tip of his toes. Nicky balanced exposure and evenly lit
.
Words..... Nice clear shot, with nice DOF. Your light is fairly even but a little muted. I like the way the grid to the right turns that golden bronze colour! With regard to giving the shot more punch, I guess it depends what processing software your using ( many people assume people might be using program's such as Photoshop or Lightroom but obviously it's not always the case! ) the shot could easily be pumped up in post production. So I am assuming this is a straight out of the camera (SOOC) JPEG so you might struggle giving it that extra zing
. You might be able to try changing the picture control to perhaps 'Vivid' setting, it might pump it up a bit? I quite like this as it is ok a little more zing might take it up a level, but none the less I good shot.
Just my rambling thoughts hope some of them help a little
Keep up the good work!