first light from first time with DSLR

I have never used anything but a point and shoot until yesterday. I got my D3200 with Nikon 18-140 lens yesterday, and after spending the last week waiting for my camera viewing probably 10+ hours of YouTube photography instruction videos, went out to see what I could get. For the record, I decided not to use Auto for anything other than focus and ISO. I shot this in A mode to see what I could get. After reviewing about 20 pictures it turned out the very first one looked the best to my eye, so I thought I would post here for any feed back for a brand new newby .

Anything is game... I am starting my venture into this and any help will be appreciated. (By the way, planning to go to Raw as soon as I get my Lightroom 5 setup. The DVD package I got did not have a product code in it so I am having to work with support to get my serial number so I can get it installed.)



Dan
aka: Advnturer

Not bad at all. I like the composition. the exposure looks a bit short, but close enough you can bring it alive once you get LR up and running.

I maybe, just maybe would have backed up a little and moved to the right and down to hide the road, and waited for the cars to disappear. Then it could have been wilderness.

Nice shot.

Congrats and welcome to DSLR photography.
Exposure is a bit dark on my screen (MAC) and i agree with Eyelight about the cars but remembering all that has to be taken into consideration is something that comes with time. I often take a photo and realise later that there is something there that I never noticed at the time.
Great start

I agree with Eyelight about waiting for the cars to go by.
Also see what happens if you get down a little lower to the ground and move a little to the right. That tree on the left foreground and all those twigs are very distracting.
Could use more of the water and rocks.

Here it is with my first lesson in Lightroom 5. Looks better I think, though there are some artifacts from removing the highway and cars. Needs more work, but I agree, with the exposure corrected and some work with the color, I think it is looking closer to what I want.