Feedback and advice

Hi guys, I'm looking for honest feedback and general advice on a few of my photos. Hope you enjoy looking through them. Thank You

Very bland, colors are off, focal point on the dog is waaaayyyy off unless you were shooting for the focus point being his collar. Is this with kit lens and are you shooting in auto?

Yes was shooting in Auto.. do you have any advice for these photos? I am new to this so i appreciate all the criticism and advice thank you

I like the second image. Not seeing the colors being that far off. In fact the WB looks pretty good. To me the subject matter in most of the images is nothing that grabs my attention. They all look like just everyday shots. The dog shot should have been framed more wide open. Having all the dog in the frame and off to the right would have given the viewer a sense of what the dog is looking at. I like the blue water and the yellow field but the composure should have been aimed more toward having those elements dominate the scene. Just my 2 pennies.

Thank You fastglass for your honest opinion, from now looking back at the photo of the dog i see exactly where you are coming from with giving the viewer a bit more to maybe look at instead of just the the dogs head. What advice would you recommend to stop images just looking like the same old everyday photo. Your Advice is very helpful thank you.

Well what advice I can give would only yield the same as a grain of salt if you do not apply yourself to it. But you should probably learn how to compose a shot. Subjects do not always need to be in the middle of the shot. Learn how to use the camera by getting out of Auto. Shooting auto is probably the worst thing you can do to yourself as you may not always end up with the image you want. There is so much useful information out there that you can learn by watching youtube and practicing with your own camera.
I know that more than anything else it's going to be how comfortable you are with learning new things, but there is a reason for purchasing a DSLR and not a point and shoot.
Get to know the other modes other than Auto.
Manual is probably going to end up being the most tedious, but you will learn the most from it if you can get a basic understanding of ISO, Shutter Speed and Depth of Field.
Aperture mode camera will control your Shutter Speed and ISO but allow you to control DOF.
Shutter Priority mode you can control Shutter speed, ISO and Aperture will be camera controlled.
Program mode... self explanatory.
Even if you thumb through to the Guide mode it will give you an idea of how the camera works, and how to get that perfect shot.
The D3100 is a great tool all on it's own to help get you on your way if you learn how to just easily go through figuring out how it all works.

Thank you so much for the useful advice. I am new to it all so I really appreciate it. I will 100% get off using auto mode. The guide and general research should help me with this. Tend to use the dreaded button because it's there even though it isn't doing me any favours. I will take all your advice on board and try new techniques and different ways of taking photos other that using the object as the centre of the picture. Hopefully all will come naturally in time and it's a case of getting to no my camera a little more. Thank you again for your great advice

Yes getting out of using the auto setting allows you to control the scene. For instance, If wanting a shallow DOF in a well lit scene your camera may choose to close down the lens instead of choosing a faster shutter speed. Using Auto, it's uncertain to know what settings are going to be chosen by the camera. You would be surprise on how easy it is to shoot using Aperture or shutter priority. General rule is that if shooting subjects that are moving you shoot in shutter priority. Stationary subjects, go for Aperture priority. I also always use single point focus mode. That way you absolutely sure what the area in the image is going to be sharp. The two most important things to know about photography is #1 know your gear. Having the know how to grab your camera and set it for a specific scene and doing it fast without thinking about it means getting an awesome image or walking away with nothing because you missed it. #2 know your scene. I was told once that no matter where you find yourself. There is always something to shoot. Know how to use the existing light to your benefit and learn how to creatively compose. All of this takes practice, time, patience and a good eye to see the scene the way that will grab anyone's attention to a good photo.

With these I feel composition is the main issue 1. Horizon tilted at possibly a bit tight. 2. Again a bit tight,you've chopped her legs off. 3. This one a little tighter to get rid of some of the distracting back ground and maybe a bit lower if the lighting would allow. 4. my favourite of the bunch, focus os a bit soft the eye needs to be sharp and again a little tight in the frame. 5 & 6 both have foreground elements ( fences ) that don't contribute to image. This is a bit of a grab bag of shot and its probably better to concentrate on and evaluate one image at a time. But hey you're out there doing it and posting this is a good thing......

In 1,2,and 4 you have spotted the potential for a great picture,a bit more experiance and you will get there,1 i would have had them a bit more distant and tried a B/W conversion,2 this one will make you smile when you come across it in 10 years,3 its been said better focus point and a bit more space.
Nice try,keep practicing and viewing other pictures to give you ideas.

I'm only going to comment on the dog picture, because I love dog pictures.

I see exactly what you were trying to do and with some practice that shot will come off great.
However.
Way way too much crop. The ears are cropped off, the bottom of the jaw is cropped off.
Looks like you set your focus either right at the collar, or just in front of it, leaving the pooches face out of focus.

Next time try focusing on the eyes, or at least close to the eyes.